How Scourge Started Dating Fiona
by CrystalMaiden77
Summary: Someone has to write it. This story will actually show the whole conversation they had when Scourge first started to befriend Fiona.
1. Chapter 1

Scourge returned to the Great Forest from his trip to Downunda with Rouge being disappointed. She didn't kiss him once, she didn't even give him a hug, and he felt like she was only using him as a way to steal jewels. He had spent time with her so he could get a girlfriend and feel less lonely, but aside from letting him hold her hand, which he suspected was just to humor him, he didn't really get that. That resentment was why he made an excuse to spend some time without her, as while she was busy celebrating over the fact that she had tons of jewels to bring home to Station Square, he said, " Yeah, I'm gonna go get a chili dog, " and took off in a blur.

On the way to the Great Forest, at 6:00 at night, he went to go get a leather jacket and boots from a shop in the Forbidden Zone town of Gravestone, being sick of looking just like Sonic, and when he was done getting what he wanted, his mind wandered back to the other girls he had flirted with in Knothole. All of those girls were people he'd never seen before on Mobius; Mina, Amy, Bunnie, and Fiona. He thought they were all pretty, but each of them had problems to them. Mina just ran off from him saying, " This isn't what I wanted, " with no real explanation, and it took a while for him to realize it was because she was already dating Ash. This caused him to conclude that her taste in men was terrible and she wouldn't ever give him a chance.

Bunnie looked nice too, but while her cyborg legs looked cool and seemed useful, he doubted she'd make a great girlfriend because there was nothing but metal below the waist, and he'd just run into the mermaid problem. It wasn't that he hated her by any means, he liked her cowgirl hat, but it also didn't help that Sonic's mother unintentionally guilted him when she told him that Bunnie was still sensitive about her break-up with " Antoine, " and put pressure on him to not break her heart too.

Amy and Fiona were the closest girls there to being perfect. But both of them had better things to do than spend all day kissing and hugging him, and that was especially annoying when it came to Amy because he thought a supposed fangirl of Sonic's would want to do that, but instead she got distracted and said she had to leave. Something about her needing a haircut when he thought she looked fine with longer hair.

And then he thought about Fiona, and something about her caused him to start heading in the direction of her house just from thinking about her. He concluded that it was because she was the best kisser, that and he got the feeling from her that she knew more than she let on and was less than innocent, and thus could relate to him better. That was mostly because she French-kissed him right after he kissed her, when Amy and Bunnie were more restrained because it was the first time. Scourge remembered where Fiona's house was from last time. It was one of the most isolated houses in the village that wasn't Snively's, being right on the outskirts of town, and since it was late at night, no one saw him and freaked out over him.

As he approached the door, he realized that she wouldn't be happy to see him because this time, she'd know who he was because of his clothes. But if he didn't have his trademark leather jacket on and she just thought he was Sonic, he wouldn't be forming a real connection to her that would feel satisfying. He wouldn't be able to tell her all about what he had been doing recently to vent about Rouge, and he wouldn't get to have conversations with her that only he could have. It wouldn't be real.

Since he knew she would be apprehensive at seeing him no matter what, he decided to pretend he wasn't dreading that kind of treatment and that it wouldn't bother him, and act as casual and friendly as he could as if he belonged there. He hoped that this way, Fiona would feel like the weird one for not being accepting of him when he was doing nothing wrong and was just being nice to her. He already had a response planned if she wanted to kick him out.

Trying to act relaxed and focus on the possibility that Fiona would warm up to him eventually, he knocked on the door, and when she opened it up, he said casually with a smile, " There you are! I missed ya! " while walking into her house immediately as she had the most confused look on her face, her pupils shrunken from realizing who he had to be.

Already he was on her living room couch with his arms behind his head, and before she could try to tell him to leave, he said with a smile that was forced from her reaction, " I've been thinkin' about ya recently, so I wanted to come see ya again. You've probably heard about me and Rouge from Sonic, but don't take that the wrong way. She's kind of a bitch, and so far I haven't gotten her to even try to kiss me. I went on a whole jewel-hunting trip with her in Downunda for NOTHING! I guess with her eye shadow and the way she dressed, I thought she'd be a whore. So much for that, I can't even get a single hug out of her. I-I mean, French kiss. "

Fiona caught the slip-up at the end where he looked sad, and she felt sorry for him right away. It was obvious that he was feeling lonely and craved affection, because why else would he want to get a hug from Rouge of all people? He barely knew her. That explained to Fiona why he went after so many girls in a row instead of just sticking with her, and made her mostly forgive him for it as she realized that his behavior wasn't meant to insult them; he had just been lonely. And she knew how that felt more than any of the Freedom Fighters.

He complained bitterly as Fiona glared at him with her hands on her hips, " Can you believe she called me ' totally pathetic? ' It's not my fault that _Old Knuckles_ can make me fly out of the Emerald chamber with voodoo magic! What a bitch! She was about to ditch me because of ONE failure, like, ' It's not like we're best friends or anything! ' I only got her to stick with me because I chipped off some of the jewel. I think she's just using me for jewels, and that's not what I signed up for. I couldn't care less about those things. " Fiona commented, " It figures. All she cares about is treasure, " and he said, " You know her, huh? At least she didn't kick me like my last girlfriend did one time. "

" She what? Why? " Fiona asked, looking worried about him again. While the Evil Sonic might have done something to deserve it, she still hated the idea of anyone being in an abusive relationship. He said, " Oh, it's not a big deal, she just did it once. She was just bored and wanted a fight with someone who'd have a chance at winning for once. And I wasn't in love with her, so it didn't hurt my feelings. But it was still surprising that she did that when she let me kiss her so much. It seems everyone I date just uses me. "

Fiona felt even more sorry for him by the last sentence. She thought HE was the one who used other people, not the other way around. She sat on the other end of the couch from him and said, " I know how that feels. Not with someone I dated, but with an old friend of mine. At least I thought she was my friend. But then again, since all we did was argue and she almost never listened to me, it was only a matter of time before Nic got sick of me. That stupid weasel. At least she taught me how to survive on my own with no job or education. "

Scourge said, " You mean stealing? " Fiona looked uncomfortable on instinct since she was used to hiding that part of her life, and he continued, " Don't worry, I won't judge. Miles had to do that to get food and water before he met me, so I can't blame you. What else were you supposed to do? You can't just walk up to a business owner and ask for a job! He'll tell you that you have to get a resume and a stupid job interview first! " Fiona was torn between finding it sweet that he was open-minded enough to not judge her and being annoyed because of course he wouldn't find anything wrong with stealing, he was evil, and at first she was confused when he said Miles, until she realized that he had to be talking about his own version of Tails.

She asked in annoyance, " Do you know from experience? " Scourge admitted reluctantly to her, " Yeah. I wanted a job once. You'd think a fast food restaurant wouldn't be so formal and stuck-up as to require a job interview. Who needs training to wait tables? Especially with my super speed, you'd think I'd get the job right away! And then they wondered why I went to stealing. How else was I supposed to get what I wanted? "

" By asking your parents for money? " Fiona asked in annoyance, jealous that he probably had parents his whole life in a world without roboticization. Scourge, still lying on the couch, complained, " Yeah, right, like they'd give me anything! You think I didn't try? They never even bought me any presents! Not for my birthday, not for Christmas, nothing! I had a whole mansion to live in and not one toy! I only had a TV because it used to be a guest room! If there was anything I wanted, I had to steal it. No one helped me get a job, so what was I supposed to do? Have the crappiest Christmas ever? I deserved better than that! But of course, no one understood that and just treated me like the bad guy. If my dad wasn't so rich and powerful, I would've gotten in trouble, but instead he bought them off. At least there was ONE thing he did for me. But even then it wasn't for ME. It was so he wouldn't look bad by having a kid in jail. "

Fiona, who was starting to feel like a therapist with Scourge on the couch complaining about his life, asked him in curiosity, " What was your dad like? " while feeling sorry for him. She supposed she should've known that his parents wouldn't be nice, since they were the evil twins of Sonic's parents, and started to wonder if they were why Scourge turned out the way he did.

He complained, " He was an ambassador for the king. A big and important political figure who helped bring about the Great Peace. So any time he wanted some good PR, he'd act like he could relate to the common man by using ME. He'd be like, ' I know how you feel! I'm a family man myself! Come on, son, let's go home! ' And he'd give me this fake hug and everyone would clap like it meant something. " He used a deep funny voice when imitating how his father talked to make fun of him, and Fiona had to resist giggling at it.

He continued to explain, " Any time word about the way he REALLY treated me got out, he just dismissed it as rumors and lied about it… Let's just say he didn't go easy on the punishment. And don't you say that I deserved it! He went too far! With a self-absorbed jerk like him for a father, of course I didn't stay his perfect little slave forever. He just used me as someone to hold up his cape so it wouldn't get dirty! And then he blamed me when I got stressed out. And my mom was just some businesswoman who only cared about her job. They hardly even talked to me! I would've been _better off_ at an orphanage! At least THEN I might have gotten some GOOD parents out of the deal. "

Fiona sighed and said, " I don't blame you, okay? Who'd wanna miss out on Christmas presents 'cause their parents were jerks? " trying to hold back the tears of pity for him. Scourge said, " I also got shit for getting into fights, but the only kids I beat up were bullies. Apparently that gets _you_ expelled. Whatever. "

Fiona wondered if that meant he was trying to be a hero back then, and if they didn't allow him to be one, it made sense that he couldn't keep it up. When she had to resist the urge to ask him for a hug, she felt stupid and wondered if she was letting herself feel so sorry for him that she forgot what a negative impact he had on other people, and tried to stop letting her guard down, snarking at him, " Well to be fair, why would they want a violent kid in school beating people up? Why wouldn't they be scared? You still should've gotten an education, but who can blame them? "

Scourge was annoyed at her not siding with him, but since he didn't want to admit that she had a good point, he ignored what she said, and complained, " The jerks. I didn't like school work anyways! I was standing up for anyone who got teased, and all it got me was a reputation as a violent psycho. Sure the one I stood up for thanked me, but he was still scared. I managed to get used to people being scared of me. Eventually I had to learn to take advantage of it and stop moping about it. At least people don't bother me anymore. "

He realized how long he had been complaining when he came to her for something else, and sat up saying in annoyance, " Aren't you gonna say I deserve all of this? That I'm just an Evil Sonic and who cares? " Fiona hugged him, surprising him, and said, " I'm not that heartless. No one should have to go through that kind of life! "

Since she was giving a hug to someone who had been deprived of those for years, she felt like she was doing the right thing, and she was at the point where all of her reservations about spending time with him were gone because she was doing the right thing by comforting someone. She let go after he returned the hug in confusion, and said, " Maybe you would've been as nice as Sonic if you had parents who cared about you, but no one gave you a chance to be anything better. I don't think MY parents gave a damn, either. "

Scourge was sad for the most part, but was at least pleasantly surprised that despite being a Freedom Fighter, she still had the guts to at least say damn, which wasn't even a swear in Europe. He asked, " How come? " out of curiosity. Wanting to vent, she continued, " My parents were never affectionate. They just saw me as a nuisance. They told me that I was a mistake. " Scourge related to her awkwardly, " An accident? Me too. And that's a secret, Fi. But that's where it all started. "

Fiona felt bad for him again, and said, " Thanks to Robotnik, I got put in a slave camp for mining jewels, and I was imprisoned in a cell for two years, and when I got out, I never did find my parents again. Turns out they moved, and I couldn't find out where they moved to. " She felt herself well up with tears just from thinking about it, and Scourge was concerned. Even though he was relieved that she could relate to him on that front, he still felt bad for her.

She complained, " I only got this house to myself because the king took pity on me. And if I wanted money to support myself without getting a job, I had to help out the Freedom Fighters. And I think they only agreed to it because Tails has a crush on me. It's not like I have any special powers like Sonic and Tails. I don't even have cybernetics like Bunnie! But somehow they took me in anyways and Rotor taught me how to hack into stuff like control panels. For all the good that did. I tried to mess with a control panel and just got myself electrocuted for my trouble! "

" You what? Did you have to go to the hospital or something? " Scourge asked, and felt embarrassed at the end for sounding concerned about a Freedom Fighter he barely knew. Fiona caught that concern, and admitted, " No, I could move around just fine after that. I don't know how, 'cause me, Rotor and Bunnie had to deal with that for, I don't even know how long it was! It was so frustrating. I got excited for that mission and all I accomplished was getting a trap sprung on me and my friends! "

Scourge reassured her, " Well it's impressive that you SURVIVED that, at least! " Fiona continued, " Gee, thanks. That wasn't the only time I screwed up. One time I got imprisoned in a cell for a while, and Sonic didn't find and rescue me right away. He just forgot all about me and needed his friends to remind me that I existed! And it all happened because I fell down a stupid trap door. "

She imagined Scourge snarking, " You sure you're cut out to be a Freedom Fighter? " since that's what she would expect an Evil Sonic to say, and got defensive, saying, " But I've beaten more than my fair share of Swatbots! Most of my missions were after Sonic was sent to space, though, so they never made an impression on him. " She wiped away a few tears, and Scourge reassured her, " Hey, relax! I wasn't gonna make fun of you! Now's not a good time for poking fun. Why was Sonic sent to space anyways? " trying to change the subject at the end.

" Because he tried to sacrifice himself to save the world! Do you think you'd do that? " Fiona said in annoyance, wiping away the last of her tears looking away from him. Scourge was stunned for a second, and asked, " So the world would've been screwed if he hadn't? It sounds like he thought he'd be killed either way. I doubt he had a way to zone-hop back then. So he had to try SOMETHING. What was the context anyways? " feeling self-conscious because he was basically admitting that he would've done the same thing as Sonic, out of sheer desperation.

Fiona was impressed at Scourge implying that he would've done the same thing to save the world as Sonic did, and was already starting to feel better as she summarized, " Basically some aliens tried to destroy the world out of spite. They were mad 'cause their ambassador was dissected like a thousand years ago. " Scourge said dismissively, " That IS spiteful. Just one guy gets dissected and that's how they react? What was so great about him? They sent an alien to another planet, what'd they expect? "

Then he commented, " Actually, Antoine already told me about some Xorda threatening the world, and that Sonic was supposed to have died from it. I didn't know he got sent to space from that. " Fiona looked at him in annoyance and complained, " Oh right, Antoine. How'd you get him to tell you that? " and glared at him with her arms crossed for switching him with Patch, suspecting him of torturing Antoine for information. " All I had to do was ask. And of course, he immediately complained about it because he's biased against me. Never mind that I was nothing but nice to him, " Scourge complained.

" NICE? Didn't you force him to live on another planet where all of his friends were jerks? " Fiona called him out. " I didn't have a choice! Patch tried to kill me to become the top dog, and if all I did was get rid of him, everyone would figure it out. So I had to get a replacement. And I would've liked it better if he enjoyed himself there instead of complaining and bumming me out, 'cause it stopped being funny real fast. And no matter how hard I tried to talk some sense into him, I couldn't get him to cheer up. You'd think he'd appreciate getting to take a break from dealing with Robotnik, and see it as a vacation! He's lucky he survived that long! " Scourge justified, being genuinely afraid that she was going to turn on him and kick him out when she was the only person on the planet who had shown him sympathy.

Fiona said in confusion, " Do you mean to say you were trying to be nice to him? " Scourge, not wanting to outright admit it, changed the subject saying, " _Anyways,_ wouldn't YOU wanna get rid of someone who tried to kill YOU? At least I didn't kill him! Shouldn't I at least get some compliments for not killing him? Though if I had done that, I would've saved you guys a lot of hassle. I didn't know he'd try to kill the king or Antoine's old man. Back on my planet they're both jerks, but I guess YOUR king isn't as corrupt as mine was. He had like nine different yachts, one of them for cheating on his wife. I don't know why I switched them, I should've just killed him. He tried to ice me four times in one week! But I guess because he was a part of my gang for so long… I mean I don't wanna say I was being ' sentimental. ' I'm supposed to be the EVIL Sonic! And you'd never believe me anyways. "

Fiona reassured him with her hand on his shoulder, " You're not ' supposed ' to be ANYTHING. You can be yourself, soft side and all! You're allowed to have a conscience. I wouldn't bother you over it. " Scourge felt awkward, and said with his arms crossed, " Of course not, you're a Freedom Fighter. That's all you care about now. Just like Rouge only cares about jewels and doesn't wanna hear about my past. I thought an evil jewel thief like her would be more impressed when I told her how much stuff I used to steal, but apparently stealing's only fine if it's jewels. Everyone just wants an excuse to think they're better than other people. You think I didn't notice you glaring at me and siding with the school for kicking me out? What kind of a hero is that judgemental? What are you, Sally? I thought you were better than that. You weren't with them your whole life, I thought you'd be more relatable than that. "

There was a brief silence, before Fiona said, " I'm sorry! I'm not like that! I'm not that judgemental! If I was, do you think I would've let you talk to me for this long? Do you think I would've let you vent about your life without being a jerk to you, if I didn't care about you? Everyone needs someone to vent to and open up to, and it sounds like Rouge isn't one of those people. I'm not saying you'd ever need a shoulder to cry on, of course, but maybe you'd be better off having at least one person you can talk to. You know, a friend. "

" You sure you're not just like them? I doubt there's any time you got annoyed with them for being self-righteous hypocrites, hell, you're probably mad at me just from hearing that insult, " Scourge complained, disappointed at her saying that she wanted to be just friends for now.

Fiona said, " Actually, there was one time when it really got to me. I hated when Rotor decided because of ONE screw-up that he was NEVER gonna build another weapon again! So much for helping us out! And there was this one time when I found the coolest-looking weapon, and I said, ' Now this is my idea of a robot buster! ' And you know what Rotor said? He said I wasn't allowed to use it! Just because it's a gun! What's wrong with using rifles against ROBOTS? They're just robots! And I could've been a lot more useful as a Freedom Fighter if I at least got to have that! It could give me a niche, some kind of special talent that nobody else has! Right now I'm just some girl with no special powers who's the worst hacker and engineer in the Brain Trust, all because that idiot wouldn't think logically for a second! It's not like I hate Rotor of course, but that was so lame! I thought he was smarter than that! "

" That DOES sound pretty stupid! " Scourge agreed with her. " FINALLY! Someone GETS it! " Fiona exclaimed. Then she remembered who she was talking to, and continued, " I mean… it figures the only one who'd agree with me on this is the Evil Sonic. I felt like a lone voice screaming out in a hurricane there! I couldn't even try to defend my position on it because I knew that if I did, I'd just get told off! And you're the only one who agrees with me, and they just see you as a bad guy! That wouldn't help my case! "

" That's about what I expected from them. They think they're great people but they're not, 'cause if they were, they wouldn't be so judgemental and picky. And if it makes you feel any better, I've had to deal with the exact same thing. Ever wonder why my gang never used guns? We got a chain and a whip and a taser and a staff, but never a gun. Well, that's all thanks to Miles. Every time he sees a gun he flips out! He's been shot at so many times that he just hates every gun he sees now! I can't say I blame him. "

" Wait, what? Why was he shot at?! He's just a kid! " Fiona exclaimed. " His second tail! Wasn't it obvious? Of course people would be jerks about that! He's lucky he met people like me who don't mind! In fact, I think it's pretty cool that he has that! It makes him unique from all the other boring people, it lets him fly, and more importantly it lets him keep up with me! All he has to do is spin them behind him when he's running and he has this crazy gust of wind pushing him forwards! It's pretty cool! I just wish he could appreciate it instead of hating it. I mean it DID put him through a lot of bullying. So if you're wondering why he lashes out at society, that's why. You'd wanna get back at the world TOO if they treated you like garbage for having two tails! "

Fiona felt sorry for Miles, and Scourge continued, " I was the first person to be nice to him and take HIS side. By that point the damage was done, and now he's the most paranoid person I ever met. He's learned that he can't trust anyone. He's nice to ME, or at least he used to be until my gang turned him AGAINST me. He just doesn't like that I'm spending time with people other than him. I spoiled him, I guess. That's what my dad and the Evil Bunnie said anyways, but they think any kind of compliments and affection is spoiling someone. So if you have a hard time trusting me, at least I can say I've got experience with that, 'cause my version of Tails has a lot of trouble trusting people, even his own friends. And I had to get used to telling him that he had nothing to worry about, for all the good that did. One time he woke up from a bad dream and I had to take a minute to convince him that I wasn't gonna ditch him! "

At the end, Fiona complained, " But you did anyways. I mean, you're HERE, not with him. " Scourge was quiet for a few seconds from the guilt at how he must have made Miles feel leaving him after all the times he said he never would. He sighed and said, " He's too attached to my gang at this point. I didn't think of him when I left, I just wanted to get away from Sally and get a better life! Even if I had asked him to come with me, well one he would've given me away unless I replaced Tails too, and he wouldn't have agreed anyways. He's too used to living with them in that castle and he'd just be afraid of change, and of making them hate him for leaving them. And I'm not holding that against him 'cause again, I couldn't replace Sonic if he was with me. "

He complained, " I'm more mad at him for leaving me when my gang ditched me earlier! Just 'cause I couldn't get past one force field. What a lame excuse! It's not like I was constantly trying to hurt them, and sure I insulted Patch, but he always started it, so what was I supposed to do, just put up with it? I thought he was more loyal to me than anybody, but he just left with them instead of thinking for himself! At least you never annoyed me like that. You're too nice to, when you're not glaring at me anyways. I know you think I'm just a bad guy, and that's it, but sometimes I did what I had to do. And I had reasons for it. "

Fiona stood up to him, " Sonic told me that you do nothing but bother the good version of Robotnik when ALL he does is tend to people in a hospital tower! What's your reason for THAT? I'd love to know because that doesn't even make any sense! " Scourge looked embarrassed at first, not sure if she'd even believe him about the answer. He said, " You'd never believe me if I told you. " " Try me! I'd rather hear SOME kind of excuse! " Fiona said, and he decided that he might as well try to explain himself for once, and since she did nothing but show him compassion when he vented earlier, things might not be so bad if he told her the truth.

" Well if he was such a nice guy, why didn't he get me out of my parents' house? Why didn't he do ANYTHING to help me?! He helped everyone ELSE! He had to have heard the rumors! But I guess he was one of those idiots who bought the lie about where I got all those bruises from. ' He just tripped and fell down the stairs! ' What a load. Come on, I kept going to school with a black eye and I hated my parents and he didn't put two and two together? Either he's a complete IDIOT or he's not the perfect little saint people think of him as! He could've done SOMETHING but he didn't! "

He felt his eyes well up with tears that he kept from coming out as he ranted indignantly, " I could've had a better place to grow up in, where I'd actually GET Christmas presents, but all he cares about, is patching up criminals I beat up with my gang, and sending Sweepbots to stop us from stealing! All he cares about is his job. Just like my parents! I don't know why I'm bothering to explain this, you probably think I'm just a monster and don't get it! I'm talking to a Freedom Fighter here! " Then he turned around and wiped his eyes, hoping that she wouldn't notice, but the fact that he turned around for no reason made it pretty obvious to her.

Fiona reassured him, " It's okay! Look, if that's why you resent him, then I get it. He should've been helping you! He should've reached out and figured out what was going on. But I guess he was just too busy, and didn't watch the news. Maybe there was no way he could've known what you were going through. You should've just told him. I think he would've let you live with him if you had asked. But what's done is done, and it's too late now. I don't think you're just a monster. Not after everything you told me today. At least you HAVE a reason that's not just ' he's good. so I have to be mean to him for no reason. ' With the way you reacted to me being a thief, you're the most open-minded person I ever met! And it sounds like you were at least nice to Miles, and I can't help but respect that. What did you mean by affection? Did you ruffle his hair, give him a hug, take care of him when he was sick? "

Scourge was stunned that she took his side, being compassionate and sympathetic to him when no one other than Miles ever was, and admitted self-consciously, " Y-Yeah. H-He INSISTED on it! He gets very clingy and needy when he's sick. Every couple months he comes down with a fever and he wants someone around him to take care of him, 'cause otherwise he just gets reminded of the times when he DIDN'T have people there for him and he spends the whole day crying. I had to humor him! I gave him soup and watched TV with him all day so I wouldn't be bored. And don't tell anyone I told you that. No one would take me seriously if they knew I was nice to someone for even a second, and Miles would make way too big a deal out of me telling you stuff like that about him. "

Fiona smiled and said, " I won't, I promise, " putting her hand on his shoulder reassuringly, finding it sweet that even he had enough of a soft side to be a good big brother. She found herself wondering if he'd make a good father someday, and it was especially impressive that he was like that to Miles when his own father was the opposite. She wondered if his spoiling Miles had been him overcompensating so he wouldn't be like his father.

Scourge was just stunned at her behavior, being confused at the compassion, and when she asked him, " Why do you look so surprised? Of course I'd be nice to you after you told me that! And you're looking at me like I have two heads! " he admitted, " I'm just not used to being treated this well. You know, with sympathy. You act like you… understand me, when you're not even me. I didn't get treated with compassion since the first year I knew Miles, and that was back when I was 12! You're a lot nicer than the other girls I met, you know that? "

Fiona said, " That's what happens when you date someone so evil. You can't expect them to care about you! " " You're saying I'd never care about someone? Miles would beg to differ on that, and my girlfriends weren't nice enough to me to make me care about them. That's their fault, not mine. You, on the other hand, are a lot nicer than I thought you'd be to me. I thought you'd tell me to get out of your house the minute I came here! " Scourge retorted.

Fiona said sheepishly, " Well you wouldn't stop talking. So I got distracted by what you were saying. I couldn't just kick you out and ignore you when you were pouring your heart out to me! " " I was not, " Scourge lied in annoyance with his arms crossed, looking away from her.

Fiona replied, " Sure. I'm glad we had this talk though. I got to know you better, and it's nice to know that the person I kissed earlier wasn't a complete monster! " Scourge said, " So you're saying it wasn't a total mistake? " getting his hopes up.

" Well, that was different! I wasn't dating Sonic back then! I can't just two-time him! People would never let me hear the end of it, and besides, he tried to sacrifice himself to save the world! And before you say anything, FINE, I'm not gonna bother pretending that I didn't enjoy that kiss, if only because you're so good at it, but Sonic's a hero and you're not. Of course I'd rather date him! I'm supposed to be a Freedom Fighter, not a thief who picks a fight with them for no reason. " Fiona reasoned with him.

Scourge said, " Fine, fine, do whatever you want. I can settle for just being friends as long as you'll hug me no problem. And don't tell anyone I admitted that, " feeling self-conscious at the end of revealing how needy and lonely he really was. In moments like that, he was testing her, to see if she'd treat him badly if he revealed his soft side, and if she ever did, he could backpedal that he was just kidding. " Really? You'll settle for just being friends? I thought the only thing you wanted out of me was… " Fiona said in confusion.

Scourge said, " I'm not gonna pretend I don't want you to date me instead, but I definitely can't force you. Personally I think you're just wasting your time. Any guy after me is gonna be bland. But I get why you'd respect him for saving the world that you're living on, and you're scared of getting in trouble by being with me. I get that. I mean, I wouldn't want you to lose your home! I like coming here! I wanna come here every night! We could watch a movie or watch some TV! We could make it like a daily thing or every other night, just hanging out with the _one_ person in the world that we can relate to! And if you ever wanna tell me some more of your thief stories, you can go right ahead, I won't judge you for it! I bet you wanted to tell people those for a long time! "

Fiona, who knew he was right with that last sentence and found his offer tempting, stood up from the couch and asked in confusion, " Why would you ever wanna be friends with ME? I-I mean, I'm a Freedom Fighter! " " Yeah, I know. You said that already. " Scourge said in amusement, finding it to be suspiciously specific denial. Fiona asked, " Wouldn't the Evil Sonic just hate me and that's it? Why would you ever like me FOR being nice instead of just going, ' oh what a goody-two-shoes, screw her! '

Scourge replied, " You really don't know me very well, do you? I'm not THAT simplistic. I like you because you were NICE to me, it's as simple as THAT! And you're the only one here who understands me! And believe it or not, I might be the only one who really accepts you for who YOU are. I mean face it, you're never gonna meet anybody on your side who's cool with your past. I think it's awesome that you were this badass thief and got away with it! It takes a lot of skill to avoid the cops for that long, and I can imagine it'd be especially hard without sonic speed. With the Freedom Fighters, you're gotta worry about being judged and shunned, so you keep that all to yourself like a skeleton in your closet! How bad are they making you feel about yourself because of that? And those are your friends! I'm sorry you have to put up with that, " and at the end, he felt self-conscious and awkward about saying sorry to someone.

Fiona looked sad at what he said; he was right. She wondered if true friends would make her feel ashamed of herself, when Scourge would never intentionally try to make her feel that way. Sally, on the other hand, would hate her if she DIDN'T feel ashamed of her past. Scourge continued, " But with ME? You can tell me anything, I don't mind. I'm a thief too, so why would I judge you? You don't have to hide things from me. I'm not gonna think you're a monster just because of one thing that doesn't conform to the ' perfect standards ' of what a perfect person has to be like! Just don't treat me like trash and I won't have a reason to hate you. "

" R-Really? T-That sounds too good to be true! " Fiona said, her eyes all wide in confusion. He was giving her something that she had wanted for her entire life. Ever since she joined the Freedom Fighters, she had to keep quiet about her earlier thefts, instead of letting them get to know her better, and she even had to keep some comments to herself so she wouldn't seem too harsh and cynical in front of them. She once said, " Whoever did the wiring in this place should be strung up by their thumbs! " Scourge wouldn't look at her annoyed for any of that.

Trying to save face as a heroic Freedom Fighter, she said with an annoyed look, " I bet you hate that I'm a Freedom Fighter, though. You're no better than them in that respect, you'd just feel awkward if I told you about Freedom Fighting! 'Cause it's doing something good and Sonic does it.. "

" Well I do think it's cool that you survived all of that! You're just a normal girl with no special powers, and even you manage to avoid getting hurt with them! And at least it gives you a lot of interesting stories to tell! Look, I'm not gonna judge you for doing that, especially not when you have to do it to keep your paycheck coming in. " Scourge said.

Fiona explained as Scourge listened to her curiously, " I don't HAVE to. I can get another job. This was just a holdover so I'd have a way to afford taking care of myself and I stuck with it because it was fun! It's thrilling going on those dangerous missions! One time a bunch of robot Bombs stormed Mina's concert! And we all had to throw them away from us and make them explode where it'd be safe. That's easily my favorite mission. It wasn't hard, but it was still pretty exciting and I did a pretty good job! Not like that other mission where I didn't get to do anything because Sonic did all the work. "

" What happened in that one? " Scourge asked, and she said, " Basically this computer virus named ADAM was going to turn the world into metal with his nanobots for some reason, and what was GOING to happen was that each of the girls would activate an EMP bomb to defeat the nanites, but instead, Sonic managed to talk ADAM out of it and everything became fine. He was trying to absorb Bunnie into the computer, and Sonic convinced him not to do that because she was part robot and he couldn't absorb that. I'm not sure how, but somehow we lucked out and the nanites stopped causing problems, and we got to go home. He even opened a way out of there for us, and that was nice and all, but I would've liked to get to do something on a mission for once. " She felt bad about resenting Sonic for that when he was just trying to save Bunnie.

She sighed, feeling insecure about badmouthing Sonic to his evil twin, and that insecurity led to insecurity about her ability as a Freedom Fighter, which always led to her wondering if she even belonged with them when she always felt like a fish out of water as the newbie to the group. She complained insecurely with her hands on her chin just so she could vent to somebody, " I wish there were more cool stories I had to tell you. Sometimes I feel like I just suck at being a Freedom Fighter. "

" Who said that? " Scourge asked, looking for an easy way to get her turned against her friends. For the most part, he hadn't been trying to do that on purpose at all, and any time she complained about her friends was just a lucky break he was grateful for, but this time it was such an obvious opportunity that even he thought to take it.

Fiona complained as Scourge couldn't help but feel sorry for her, " No one outright SAID it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they thought it. I spend every day completely surrounded by experienced Freedom Fighters who have such better track records than me! I got myself imprisoned on a mission with Mighty, Ray and Sonic, and they forgot all about me! I didn't get to do anything on the mission where we saw Snively planning against ADAM, I didn't get to do anything on the mission where Sonic met this history buff robot named Isaac. And in THAT one, all I did was get me and my friends electrocuted and require Tommy Turtle to bail me out! All I did when I first saw Sonic again was give him First Aid when his shoulder got burned, which anyone could've done. "

She sighed and said, " The most I accomplished on a mission recently was protecting Mina, and I was hardly the only one fighting! I could've NOT existed and they would've been FINE! Don't get me wrong, I fought a lot of Swatbots when Sonic was on those alien planets! But sometimes I just wish I got to do more, and maybe if I DID have special powers, I wouldn't feel so damn useless sometimes. And don't tell anybody I told you that! "

Scourge stopped to pick his words carefully, and then commented, " Do you think you're getting overshadowed by them? I mean there's so many Freedom Fighters, and you're never the only one on a mission. " " Maybe. I guess. But realistically, what could I even accomplish on a solo mission, anyways? Nothing that some other, more experienced Freedom Fighter wouldn't do better. They never sent me on a single solo mission and there's gotta be a reason for that! " Fiona admitted reluctantly.

Scourge said, " If it makes ya feel any better, if I got a Chaos Emerald, I wouldn't mind giving _you_ some special power! I'd like to make you fast enough to keep up with me so I wouldn't have to drag you along or carry you, like Rouge. "

Fiona said in despair, " What kind of power would even help me stand out? Sonic's got super speed, Tails isn't slow either, and even Mina went on a mission with me at one point and SHE'S got super speed too. Bunnie can shoot lasers out of her arm cannon and create a force field in front of her whenever she wants, AND she can fly, just like Tails can. Next thing you know, Tommy's gonna fly too! Shooting lasers is mostly good for beating robots, and tons of people can do that. Bunnie has super strength too. Being fast would be nice, but they'd just think it was redundant! Who needs someone fast other than Sonic? I'm struggling to think of a special ability I could have that would set me apart! Even if I just settled with being smart and became the best hacker and engineer in the Brain Trust, I'd still be just another engineer. But it was nice of you to offer. "

Scourge said, " Yeah, yeah, I know. You wouldn't have to worry about all those different people with special abilities making you redundant if it was just you and me. But I know, I know, you're having more fun as a Freedom Fighter. Makes sense that you'd like smashing robots, I like that TOO. I guess you like that it gives your life some structure and order 'cause you don't have to wonder what to do next. You always know that you're gonna go fight Robotnik, and Sally tells you where to go every time. But me, I don't know where I'm going next. That's up to Rouge. Even then, it'll just be another jewel theft. What do I care if she gets some jewels? I get some jewels for her and then she pays for the stuff I need. That's all I'm doing. Every day we're doing the same things, it's just in a different place every time. "

" So do you think your life is boring the way it is? It wouldn't kill you to smash up some Swatbots every once and a while, " Fiona commented, teasing him at the end. " Well sometimes I do run around the world and look for some robots to beat up on. I AM fast enough to run across the whole planet just for a race with Sonic, after all. So it's easy to get myself some stress relief. But even then, what does that matter? It's not like breaking robots will beat Robotnik. The only thing you can do to take him down is, either send him to the Zone of Silence like I did with the evil king, or just man up and kill him already. Or I guess you could wimp out and just imprison him in a cell and hope he won't escape. And all you'd have to do for THAT is, taser him so he can't resist, knock him out, put him on a wagon and Sonic can bring him to prison. It shouldn't be hard for these guys to get rid of ONE GUY. I could do that, and you people would just hate me for killing a goddamn _dictator_… "

After a brief silence, where Fiona couldn't help but agree with him and feel frustrated with the Freedom Fighters for not doing that, she said sadly, " It's not that simple. He's got sub-bosses all over the world who would immediately grab for power and try to take his place if anything happened to him! He's not the only dictator polluting the world and threatening people with his robots. They're all over the planet. And getting rid of them would just leave another power vacuum that would get filled right away. We need to get rid of the structure supporting these dictators so no one would be able to take their place. And breaking their robots helps with that. "

She explained, " But of course you're better off destroying entire factories making the things. THAT could be some great stress relief if you like destroying stuff so much, provided you know where to look. It's top secret which buildings are dedicated to making robots, and only the Freedom Fighters can figure that out. I get why you wouldn't wanna ask them. But that's what I've helped with most of the time. When Sonic was up in space, I lost count of all the times I got some bombs to Swatbot factories and destroyed them. But there's a LOT of them out there. At least now we don't have to worry about him replacing his robots with roboticized people and making us hold back against innocent people in the process. Not since some aliens deroboticized everybody and made us immune to being roboticized. Now we don't have to worry about THAT anymore. "

Scourge complained bitterly, " So what you're SAYING is, it's hopeless. " Fiona said, " I'm not trying to say that! It's just that when we destroy his factories, he rebuilds, and it's not like we can blow them all up at once. We could TRY, but one of his lackeys would just discover the bombs before we could get them all in every factory. We just try to focus on getting rid of Eggman FIRST. We just need to destroy his city. And I know that sounds evil to say, but it doesn't have any innocent people in it, like Robotropolis did, so there'd be no harm. "

Scourge, finding it boring and bleak that she was telling him all about how hard it would be to free the world from all those dictators, changed the subject by asking, " Do you got any movies or something? "

She was annoyed at first from him changing the subject, only to smile because everything he told her about him had gotten her to warm up to him. It wasn't like she was talking to an ogre. He was nice to Miles, at least, and he had reasons for the evil things he was doing. Even bothering Kintobor was something he was able to justify, even if she still disapproved of it. She thought of him as Sonic if he was more troubled, and the biggest motivator to her befriending him wasn't only that she could change him for the better. For the most part, she loved that he was more open-minded than Sonic, and liked her for who she was, thief and all.

She got a movie out and said, " I've been meaning to watch this. It's not a date for the record. I just don't wanna kick you out of here, " and put it into the DVD player as Scourge relaxed on the couch with a smile, looking forward to the day when she'd let him put his arm around her on the couch.


	2. Chapter 2

After Fiona had accepted Scourge as a friend, they started a routine of spending every evening together watching an action movie at her house. Some might find it surprising that she even gave Scourge a chance, but after he revealed to her how lonely he was in the world and how he understood and respected her, criminal past or not, she wouldn't have felt right about turning him down. She was the only friend he had in the entire multiverse.

And some might find it surprising that in a world mostly run by Eggman, there could still be movies produced. But with roboticization being something that everyone was now immune to, the people of the world were able to return to relatively normal lives. Having a dictator like Eggman in charge of their government only affected their lives in the sense that the punishments for crime were very severe and there was a curfew, as he assumed that any nightly activity would be criminal activity like Freedom Fighting. This meant that with normal lives, there were normal jobs, from archaeologist to dentist to movie producer. Even before roboticization, there were still movies and television shows that the people of Knothole had access to like normal, like Jurassic Park and the Little Mermaid, and soap operas.

Fiona and Scourge's favorite thing to watch was action movies, although Fiona was also really interested in documentaries, and only started out with action movies to humor Scourge. Fortunately for her, she eventually discovered that a documentary wasn't at all a dealbreaker for Scourge, as long as he still got to be with her, sitting in a house in a place where he was treated like he belonged for the first time in his life.

Because he had that to look forward to, Scourge was naturally pretty cheerful the second time he walked into Fiona's house, opening the door and strolling in like he belonged there. This time, he had green spines and scars on his chest, as she had seen the last time she saw him. " Hey, Fi! How've ya been? " he said casually, and sat on her black couch and put his arms behind his head relaxing.

She put in an action movie, and replied still not used to him, " Good, " and cautiously sat on the armchair, and noticing a bad vibe from her, Scourge asked trying to sound more carefree than he was, " Good, that's all? I thought I'd get to hear more than that. What about your exciting life as a hero? " Fiona said in confusion as she waited for the movie to start, " So, you're not mad at me for earlier? " remembering when she led a cavalry charge of Bunnie, Antoine and Tails to him and Rouge and got them to run away.

Understanding why she was nervous around him from a couple hours ago, Scourge said awkwardly, " No, not really. I mean you had to do SOMETHING, you're part of their TEAM! I get why they'd wanna spoil my fun when I was competing with Sonic. It was just a harmless competition! We ran around close to each other hitting each other trying to see who would get knocked down! " Fiona snarked, " Men! " with her arms crossed rolling her eyes at the needlessly violent " game " he was having fun with that only got him and Sonic in pain from a fight.

Trying to downplay the effect of her cavalry charge for his pride, Scourge said, " I already felt like I had won over him anyways and by the time Shadow and him ganged up on me, it was feeling redundant. So what were you doing earlier? " Fiona turned on the subtitles for the movie and started it, and tried to relax herself around him by humouring him enough to answer the question. After all, it's not like it would kill them if he knew about what they had to go through every day. It wasn't like she would be giving him a list of their weaknesses.

So she told him, " Well we were celebrating Sonic's birthday at a new base for the team, and two of my old thief accomplices broke in by bombing the wall. So we all got into this big fight because Robotnik had sent these guys after us out of spite. The green duck kid Bean was throwing bombs everywhere, but lucky for us they had pretty small explosions, so no one got hurt, and eventually he jumped on Sonic's head and wouldn't get off. "

Scourge chuckled a little at the end, a surprisingly harmless-sounding laugh that reminded her of Sonic's, and she told him cheering up at telling him how SHE contributed, " So the only way he could be gotten to leave him alone was if I remembered something I learned when I used to live on the run with him. For some reason he has this fascination with shiny objects, especially keys. He'd start talking to them and calling them by a name like he was hearing a voice in his head! It's pretty messed up. So I threw some shiny keys out of the base and he ran right out of there! " Scourge commented, " Well that's pretty interesting. You were useful in a way other than just punching people. So is that why you left him? Did he make you uncomfortable? " feeling a bit sorry for Bean.

Fiona admitted, " A little, but it was mostly because he got annoying after a while. Bean's alright in small doses, but he's like this hyperactive, unpredictable nut, and half the reason Bark stays with him is so he can look after him. That and he can generate explosives with his mind, so that's pretty helpful. " Scourge asked, " For what? " Since the movie had a slow beginning, she didn't mind paying half attention to it as she awkwardly answered, " Well, you know, for, jewel thefts, " and said quietly but defensively, " I needed SOME way to make money! A girl's gotta eat! "

" I don't blame you. How'd ya do it? I got sonic speed, so for me it'd be a breeze, but I can't imagine how hard it would be when you're more limited, " Scourge replied. Fiona found it novel and refreshing that she was getting such a calm, casual reaction to it, completely free of judgement, and she started to feel a bit less awkward and reluctant as she explained,

" Basically Bean and Bark would distract the guards while I took the jewels. Either guards or just people in their homes. I-I mean it's not like they needed them. Jewels are just there to make some extra money off of them, but usually people just have jewels because they want something pretty to stare at. " " If they want that they could just look at you, " Scourge joked around. He meant what he said, and Fiona couldn't help but smile and tried to act like she wasn't flattered, rolling her eyes and trying to look annoyed, which just came off as a smirk as she said,

" I walked right into THAT one. My point is, most people who have jewels or expensive jewelry, they can afford the loss, they can buy some more. It's not really a big deal. There's a lot worse things you can do than steal some meaningless trinket that doesn't do anything, from someone who doesn't need the money as desperately as I did, living on the run. " Then she complained, " If I told SONIC that, he'd get on my case about it! Or at least look at me judgmentally. Like he's no better than Sally. She figured out I used to work for those two because I knew Bean's weakness and instead of THANKING ME for what I did to help, she just glared at me and said, ' You have a lot of explaining to do! ' "

" What a bitch! " Scourge complained. Then he paused briefly worrying that she would get angry at him for insulting her friend, and while she did look annoyed, she said, " I'm gonna let that slide, 'cause I felt like that too! MOST of the time she's polite! Nice, even! So on the rare occasions where she acts like she thinks she's better than someone, it's really jarring. It really stands out, and not in a good way. But most of the time she's FINE! And at least Sonic wasn't being like that. He just put his hands on my shoulder and told me that I'm a welcome part of the team, and changed the subject. And after that when he saw that I was still feeling down, Tails went over to me and gave me a cup of orange juice. He's a sweet kid. I doubt YOUR Tails would do that! "

" You'd be SURPRISED, " Scourge said immediately. She looked at him in confusion, and he said, " Well if you're his friend, he's actually really generous. Charitable even. Like, I'm not even kidding here, any time one of his gang members gets sick, he spends his whole day waiting on them hand and foot! I know, you think that's weird for an ' evil twin, ' but his logic is, he's lucky he has any friends at ALL. When you're born a mutant, when you're born different from everybody else, you should do whatever it takes to keep every friend you have on your side. And while you're probably doubting that a bunch of violent vigilant thieves would be his real friends, to HIM, they ARE, 'cause THEY don't wanna HURT him. But anyways… is there anything else you did? Besides that MINOR inconvenience to me? "

Fiona paused at first before saying, " Well, uh… Oh, right. My whole gang had Bark backed up against the wall and I tried to look as badass as I could and I told him, ' You can't take all of us at once! ' And he put his hands up and they started arresting him! " being excited at the end. Scourge found it charming when she got excited describing her contributions as a hero. He thought of her as a lovable dork who got excited every time she did something cool, like a little kid, and had the biggest smile just at seeing it.

Fiona ranted resentfully, " Problem IS, it's not like that even MATTERED because SOMEHOW, after Robotnik sent that Croctobot there, Bean and Bark just WALKED right out because everyone was too stupid to just think to TIE THEM UP! I mean, REALLY?! Most of them weren't even DOING anything! That was ALL Sonic and Shadow's fight, and all they were doing was staring at it! You're telling me Antoine couldn't have stayed and watched them? Really?! And I can't just tell them off because if I did that, I'd just look like the bad guy! They'd just treat me like I was being a jerk and disloyal to my friends, and I'm already under enough suspicion as it is! "

" Hey, don't feel bad about being mad at them for that, that WAS stupid! And you're not just hearing me say that 'cause I'm not friends with them, ANYONE would think that was stupid. And if they can't handle anyone calling them out on their mistakes, then that's why they keep making them, " Scourge said. Fiona looked ashamed and said while looking away melancholically, " Yeah, but I'm just as stupid as they were 'cause I wasn't watching them either. "

" You just thought someone ELSE was busy supervising them, that's all! And besides, who can blame you for wanting to enjoy the show? Especially when I showed up! With a brand new look and all! Did ya like how I spindashed up that robot? " Scourge reassured her. " Well, yeah! That was pretty cool! I could've done without the fangs though. And the scars, " Fiona replied, hoping he would be inclined to fight more robots in the future, and feeling sorry for him at the end.

Scourge felt awkward and disappointed that she didn't like the fangs, and explained casually, " The scars weren't my doing, that was Knuckles' old man. He didn't like that I was standing on his precious jewel. What does HE care if I borrow some of its energy? It's not like stealing it! He could've not even known I did it and it never would've made a difference in his life, but instead he just HAD to try to hurt me. And thanks to my new power-up, well sure it hurt for a few seconds, but the cuts healed REALLY fast and I was back to standing in seconds! You don't know how cool it is to have that kind of healing factor, Fi! If you ever want that for yourself, you just let me know, " Scourge answered, and pulled out a Warp Ring, saying with a smile, " and I would take you straight to the Emerald. Courtesy of Doctor Finitevus. "

Fiona said, " Finitevus? You mean, that creepy white echidna Sonic told me about a while ago? Last I heard, he had spent the last year getting people rescued from slave camps. What's he been doing since Robotnik got kicked off the island? There aren't any slaves he needs to rescue. I'm surprised you're working for him, since he was kind of a Freedom Fighter! What does he want from YOU? "

Scourge shrugged and said honestly, " I got NO idea. He hasn't told me anything yet. He just said he rescued me from Shadow with his Warp Ring because he wanted me to help him. With what, I don't KNOW. " As Fiona looked worried, Scourge wondered if he would be making a mistake if he told her that Finitevus was planning against Sonic and his friends.

He complained, " He likes to keep to himself for some reason. He's one of those douchey ' geniuses ' who think they're so much more brilliant than everyone else. At least that's what I'm getting, since he looks so smug and he's not telling me what he wants and why right off the bat. That's not COOL, that's CONFUSING. Speaking of bat, she's done nothing but complaining today. I think the only time she smiled was when she was planning on trying to steal the Master Emerald. "

Fiona snarked, " Doesn't she KNOW that if she steals that thing, the whole island will come crashing down? And sink into the sea with people on it? Is she just THAT oblivious, or a complete bitch? " Scourge replied, " Well, both, I think. She never mentioned anything about the island falling. That's the first I'M hearing about any sort of consequence. I mean, well, Atlantinopolis, which is the Floating Island from MY ZONE, it needed its Emeralds to keep the air bubble around it 'cause it's an underwater city and all, so when Robotnik started draining their power, the air got thicker. "

" So that would mean that the air would've kept getting thicker until it was impossible to breathe and everyone in the city would've suffocated. INCLUDING Robotnik, unless he was quick enough to get out of there. What a jerk, " Fiona replied. Scourge looked worried, realizing for the first time that if he had stayed there, and Robotnik hadn't tried to get him thrown into the ocean by Swatbots instead of recognizing him as a valuable ally, then he might have faced that same problem, but then relaxed because he was certain that Robotnik was planning to leave the city and let the machine keep draining energy for him the minute the air would become unbreathable, and he would've come with him. Then he explained, " The Floating Island wasn't underwater, so the Emerald couldn't have been used to power an air bubble. But yeah, obviously it HAD to have been the reason it was floating. Now about my offer. I can make you have some cool powers, and give you a new look, though you look great as it is so maybe you should just stop at the eye color. You'd look beautiful in green eyes! "

" No, Sonic. Or Scourge, whatever. If Locke saw me in the chamber, he'd freak! And if he got YOU scarred for life, then what would he do to ME if I tried the same thing? Besides, Sonic told me that he sent you flying out of the cave with magic the first time he saw you. Why wouldn't he do that to me? Why didn't he do that to YOU, now that I think about it? " " 'Cause he was an idiot. Look, if you're that scared, I could take you that at night when he's asleep, " Scourge reasoned with her calmly.

" But that still wouldn't change the fact that everyone would know what I did! if I powered myself up, wouldn't I look different? Wouldn't that make it immediately obvious to everybody that I did that? " Fiona asked. " Are you telling me those idiots are so self-righteous that they'd hate you for trying to become more USEFUL to their TEAM? " Scourge snarked., and Fiona looked resentful, not of him, but of Sally.

The more their idiotic self-righteousness was pointed out to her, the more it was getting to her. It wasn't that she had anything against morality, of course, she wasn't a sociopath, but as someone smart enough to be a member of the Brain Trust, she always hated it when people let morality get in the way of making the smart decision, especially when it came to Freedom Fighting when it would've been better to try to take down Eggman as fast as possible. She thought back to when Rotor didn't let her have a rifle again, and sighed because she knew he was right.

She complained bitterly with her arms crossed, " Unfortunately. You'd think that if everyone was being REASONABLE, and this was a world where everyone was smart, I could just go to Locke, tell him that I wanna be more helpful to my friends, and he'd be nice enough to HELP ME so I could be a better Freedom Fighter for the good of the world but NOOOO! He'd probably be too protective of his Emerald and refuse because he's fanatical about guarding it, for the good of the world! Even though I'd never even think about making his island crash into the ocean! I'm not a monster! But I guess he sees everyone who tries to even touch his Emerald as that. " " I wasn't thinking about it crashing into the ocean! I thought it'd be fine, I thought it'd just do what every island does in the sea, FLOAT, " Scourge admitted, starting to feel awkward.

Fiona, despite looking exasperated with him, reassured him to humor him, " It's okay, I understand, NOW anyways. You weren't familiar with how the island works. So you were just not thinking things all the way through and thinking of the consequences, like Sonic. You live in the moment and sometimes that means being reckless. But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way, 'cause he'd be BORING if he was cautious all the time! And so would you. " She then felt like she was being too idealistic by complimenting and sympathizing with him, and lashed out from the frustration of feeling like an idiot by calling him out,

" But that doesn't change the fact that you tried to steal the Emerald AGAIN when you should've known what would happen by then, and tried AGAIN instead of letting it go already! " Scourge told her while worried that she would kick him out and turn on him, " Hey, if you didn't know earlier, I left WITHOUT the Master Emerald! Would I have done that if I really wanted to steal it? No, of course not! That would've been really stupid! If I really cared about stealing it, then when I warped away from it with Chaos Control, I would've brought it WITH me. Stealing jewels is Rouge's thing! And she wasn't happy with me when I left without it. The fact is, I didn't care about taking it anymore. All I wanted was to give myself an edge over Sonic, and to stop looking just like him all the time. You don't know what it's like to look at your reflection and just get annoyed because it reminds you of someone else! I used to ADMIRE myself in the mirror! "

Fiona complained, " No surprise there. You could've easily gone there at night when he was sleeping and not hurt him at all, and that would've been smarter. But instead you wanted some revenge! Being too obsessed with being as good and perfect as possible makes you do stupid things, but so does being sadistic and just wanting to have fun! Just look at Robotnik, if he was REALLY smart he would've blown up Knothole in our sleeps by now! But instead he's completely given UP on trying to destroy it when he used to try to do it every day! The only explanation I can think of is that he's keeping Knothole around on purpose so he can have fun messing with us, and all that sadism is doing is making sure he'll keep failing! "

She continued, " I'm glad you don't really wanna steal it, but it doesn't make you innocent. Instead of just taking off when you got what you wanted, you beat up a sweet old man! And I KNOW, I know, ' what did you expect? ' Well I don't CARE that you're the Evil Sonic! You could still be better than that. Don't let people pigeon-hole you into a category and make you think you have to live up to what they expect. You can be yourself! You can be whatever you wanna be! " trying to be nice to him and show faith in him at the end so she wouldn't get him mad. She didn't want an argument after all. She just wanted to tell him off and feel better about herself in the process, not to start a fight.

Scourge, not wanting to start a fight either, got an idea and told her, " If that old guy's such a good person, then you should have nothing to fear! Why don't you go ahead and ASK him? If he's so nice, he won't hurt you, he'll just make ya fly away. And if he's REALLY a sweet old man he'll agree to help you in a heartbeat! " He stood up and threw the Warp Ring on the ground making it grow to the size of a person, revealing that he wasn't being sarcastic. " Come on, We'll pause this, I'll warp you to the Island, hide in the bushes, and then you can come RIGHT back home the minute he says no. You never know unless you TRY, right? It's better than not trying at all. "

His real plan was to prove to her beyond a shadow of a doubt that Locke was letting his overactive morality cloud his proper judgment just like the Freedom Fighters were, and he could already tell that he was getting that fact through to her, not just about Locke, but about all of her friends, but she needed a little more convincing. She would need days of convincing at this rate, and then she could finally be fully relatable to him, instead of just having the potential.

With her hands on her chin, Fiona said unhappily, " OK, fine. Why not? I'd be stupid NOT to, " believing that while Locke would never agree to her request, the reward if he did would be more than worth the risk. She stood up, Scourge paused the movie with the remote, and told her, " I've been in the bushes next to that cave, so I can imagine it just fine. Now come on, " and the two of them walked into the Warp Ring, and stepped out of it right behind some bushes, just as he had said.

Scourge hid behind the bushes, Fiona walked up to Locke who was standing guard in front of the cave trying to pretend he wasn't still in pain from earlier, and she cringed in sympathy at first from imagining the kind of bruises Scourge's punches must have left. Locke recognized that look of pity and reassured her, " I suppose Sonic told you I got hurt? Don't worry, I'm fine. " " How do you know I'm friends with Sonic? It's not like you two talk about everything. " Fiona said in confusion.

" Lucky guess. I know a look of pity when I see one. It's not the same as someone looking afraid because you're the guardian, " Locke said. Fiona, dreading the fact that he wouldn't keep acting like the kindly easygoing old man he usually was the minute his Emerald would get mentioned, took a deep breath for a few seconds in and out, and decided to just force herself to speak already and tell him what she wanted to say. " _What's the worst he would do to me? He's a good person! He has to be if he didn't kill Scourge when he caught him trying to smash Sonic with a rock! Yeesh, he's lucky I'm putting up with him after that! _"

" What's wrong? You look really nervous. Is there something you want to get off your chest? " Locke asked her in concern. Fiona looked annoyed, mostly at the idea that he was going to act nice to her just to get mad at her later as if he was never a good person at all, and since she wanted to take any excuse she could to vent, she complained,

" Yeah actually. I'm part of Sonic's group of Freedom Fighters, and nearly every single one of them has these special abilities that make them stand out, something to make them really useful to the team. Sonic's super fast, Tails can FLY, Bunnie can fly AND shoot lasers and hit stuff with super strength, and what can I do? Nothing! I mean, I can fight, but it's nothing compared to THOSE three! And the only chance I had at getting a real niche that'd make me a unique asset, was shot down without a second thought! 'Cause apparently guns aren't their way, even when they're just used against ROBOTS. "

Locke, who was feeling sorry for her, asked, " Ray guns or all guns? Julie-Su has a ray gun and no one complains. Perhaps you'd feel better as part of the Chaotix? " Fiona complained, " W-Well, he never specified, but that wouldn't change the fact that whether it's Sonic's friends or the Chaotix, I'm SURROUNDED by these experienced Freedom Fighters and here I am with almost no missions under my belt and nothing unique to offer! I'm at my wit's end sometimes! I can handle it, day to day, but it's so frustrating seeing Sonic and Tails be so effortlessly useful because they were born with special powers! I mean the first time I ever felt like they NEEDED me was when I distracted some guy with shiny keys! If I was with the Chaotix, I'd just feel even WORSE because almost ALL of them have special powers! "

Locke looked concerned about how she was sounding power greedy, as she finally let out her full frustration and jealousy. " Mighty's got super strength, Ray, Safron and Charmy can FLY, don't even get me started on what I heard about Knuckles, and Espio can go invisible! And intangible, too! Why would I feel better just because I'd get to use the same kind of weapon Julie-Su already has? Even there, I'm not really needed! How's that fair?! I need some kind of edge! I feel like any day now they're gonna start teasing me about how I've been on the team for months and I'm still not pulling my weight! And then the teasing will turn into resentment and I already got that from Sally today, and then the resentment could lead to them sending me out on missions less and less until they tell me I should RETIRE! "

" I-I don't think they'd go THAT far. I mean, that would just be rude, " Locke said awkwardly. He felt sorry for her for her desperation to feel competent and be a respected Freedom Fighter. But at the same time, he knew what a desire for more power could lead someone to. " Well that's why they wouldn't be honest about it. At BEST they'd just try to be SUBTLE and send me on less and less missions because ' it's too dangerous! We need Sonic and Bunnie for this one! ' ' Nah, the Chaotix can handle it! You don't need to worry about it. ' And guess what, that's what they're ALWAYS DONE! Who knows when that process will speed up? Sally just had the perfect excuse today to stop respecting me and plan on kicking me out of the team. She's started to judge me for the hard things I had to do in my past even though I would've literally starved to death without them! And the ONLY one to tell me that I was still welcome was Sonic. I NEED some help! "

Locke sympathized with her, but hearing that she already seemed to have a history of doing morally questionable things wasn't helping her case for him. Even Scourge couldn't help but feel sad at her tone and expression, and started to dread Locke telling her no, because she was making it clear more than ever how desperate she really was, to feel better about herself and feel secure in her position in life.

She continued desperately., " I know I'm coming off as paranoid, worrying that they'll turn against me, but I'm mostly just worried about THAT with SALLY, and SHE'S the LEADER. If she wants me gone then I'm gone with no other clear options for making a paycheck come in. And if her friends won't take her paranoia against me as a good excuse, then ' she's not useful enough ' will be the first thing they'll say. And THEN they'll try to turn that around as being a GOOD thing doing me a FAVOR, because they'll say that freedom fighting is too dangerous for me and I'm better off not risking my life getting involved. I could just imagine Sonic saying, ' I mean it's not like you can shoot lasers or anything. ' And they wouldn't be saying that if I had some kind of special powers! I need your help! Scourge powered up with that thing and he didn't even need to! Imagine what kind of good that could do for me! I know you're super protective of the Emerald but I'm not Scourge, I'm a Freedom Fighter! I wouldn't abuse it! "

Locke put his hand on her shoulder, and while this was intended to be a reassuring gesture, all it did was immediately have Fiona crushed with disappointment as she knew what was going on. He was going to try to give her a moral lecture and expect his acting compassionate and sympathetic to make up for not helping her just because he thought he knew best, when he wasn't doing the right thing he thought he was. She had to deal with that kind of mistake over and over again since she started being with the Freedom Fighters and it was getting harder to deal with every time because she knew she couldn't tell anyone her frustration without looking like a jerk, so she kept it pent-up and bottled up inside until Scourge had to be the only one she'd let it out to.

She looked surprised and then annoyed at his gesture and he told her, " Look, I understand why you want this, but powers come with a lot of responsibility. Take it from someone who raised someone with more power than anyone. Who knows what kind of danger you could get yourself into? Knuckles got himself killed temporarily because his energy was EXHAUSTED! Now I'm not saying you'd ever become as powerful as HIM, of course. That'd just be silly. But what I'm saying is, you could be rushing into more dangerous situations and getting yourself hurt! Having powers doesn't make you invincible. Knuckles is very lucky he came back at all! You said you're not as experienced as them, so perhaps you're better off not, say, going to fight a giant mecha just because you can throw fireballs. "

" I'm not THAT inexperienced! I've been a Freedom Fighter for months! I kept a bunch of Bombs from blowing up Mina's concert! I'm not a total wuss! I just need some sort of extra advantage, and if I get a projectile attack, then HOW would I be putting myself in more danger? I could just stay back and do it! I could summon some fire arrows or something! Why do you have such a problem with the Freedom Fighters getting a better fighter?! " Fiona snapped at him. She didn't mean to sound so mad at him, since she didn't hate him in general, but she just wanted to let all that pent-up frustration at herself up, to the point where she was resisting the urge to just punch him in the face for even considering telling her no.

" That's not it! I have a PROBLEM with someone getting HURT because of me! That would be my responsibility! And more importantly, the Master Emerald is not yours for you to use. You aren't entitled to its power, NOBODY is. " " Not even YOU? " she snarked with her arms crossed. Fiona really hated his self-righteous logic, considering him to be letting his morality cloud his judgement. " Not even the guardians are truly worthy of the power of a Chaos Emerald! And especially not NOW when it's actually 14 Emeralds in one! But SOMEONE has to guard the Emerald, and that someone needs every advantage they can have to guard it WELL! "

" How does THAT not apply to fighting Robotnik?! Do you even care about him being taken down or is he just not your PROBLEM anymore? Any time he wants he can COME BACK, you know! He could come flying here with an army of robots to take it over all over again! All because he's still out there! Maybe I could help put an END to this already! Not by myself, I'd feel pretty weird if it was just me alone who took down Robotnik, but- " Fiona called him out.

" How much power would be ENOUGH? Do you want the power to kill him? Then get a ray gun and shoot him! I doubt the Freedom Fighters would approve of you being an executioner or ANYONE for that matter because Sally told us she WASN'T willing to do whatever it takes to take him down. The Brotherhood and I would've agreed to help if she was willing to be smart about it and destroy his city already, but she said no and here we are, " Locke complained.

As Scourge listened in curiosity, Fiona said, " For once I'm in full agreement with you. The thing is, though, Robotnik was a robot back then, and when his city DID get nuked, he just sent his brain to another body anyways. All that it accomplished was we LOST Mobotropolis! And who knows when we'll get the radiation cleaned out. If Sally knew that was gonna happen in the future no matter what, maybe she would've oh who am I kidding, she's too much of a blind goody-two-shoes to agree to do that. But NOW Robotnik's organic. If something destroys his city, he'll have nowhere to run! "

" And that's exactly what I was afraid of. If you want to take down Robotnik, then you have to take out his CITY, get rid of his infrastructure and weapons, because if you don't bother with that, then someone could just replace him! Are you asking for the kind of power that could destroy his city? You're asking a LOT of me, to trust you with that! I know that Robotnik should be taken down as soon as possible, but what are you going to do AFTERWARDS with all that power? Who knows what could happen?! Freedom Fighter or not, no one should be that powerful and I'm not going to risk the next Enerjak! " Fiona was scared and creeped out just at him saying all of that as she imagined herself in that kind of position.

" Hold on, I'm not demanding THAT much! Don't jump to conclusions! I'm just saying I want a power like Sonic has. SOMETHING to make me stand out! I'm just not sure what exactly that would BE. There's so many Freedom Fighters with special powers and if I get ANY that makes me redundant, then the whole thing would be pointless! Sonic AND Mina have super speed, Tails AND Bunnie can fly, and now TOMMY of all people can fly TOO, and that's not even mentioning the Chaotix! Most of them have abilities that let them be better FIGHTERS, so if I get a power that helps with that, well so what, what would change? I'm already just another one of the fighters. Plenty of people can fly. Espio takes up the stealthy role so they could always call him if they need that, Bunnie and Mighty have super strength, there's a bunch of engineers and hackers. How can I compete with THAT? " Fiona told him.

Being merely frustrated with her calming down considerably after she reassured him, Locke told her seriously, " Then why compete at all? You don't even know what you WANT! You would just stand on top of the Emerald and nothing would happen at all because you wouldn't know what to tell it. " Fiona sighed in frustration and complained sounding exhausted and hopeless, " There's just too MANY of them! It's not fair! "

" It sounds like if you went to join a different Freedom Fighter group somewhere else, all your problems would be solved. You wouldn't be outclassed by more experienced and powerful people anymore. Perhaps your real problem is that you'd be better off working with people more like you. " Locke commented.

Scourge saw an unintentional double meaning in the last sentence and listened to Fiona intently as she explained sadly, " It's not THAT simple! I'm getting a paycheck a week from the king specifically because I'm helping Sonic. I'd need help getting a different job after I left them so I'd have any chance of money coming in. I don't know what kind of job I even want! And even if I could just ASK Elias to keep paying me to go work for some other group with no direct benefit to anyone he knew, I'd have to leave my home, Tails would miss me if I left, and so much for dating Sonic! Although I could always date someone else but that's just one thing, I'd still have to live somewhere COMPLETELY unfamiliar to me! " Scourge took that as some hope because a certain part of Anti-Mobius wouldn't be unfamiliar. If she wanted to live in Mobotropolis so badly, she could.

She called him out, " And even THEN, even if I joined the Arctic Freedom Fighters or something, so that I could get any special power I wanted and still feel needed, you STILL wouldn't let me near your Emerald! Would you? Of course not! Because you're too protective of it for your own good even though all I wanna do is try to HELP! Forget it, I'm sick of you treating me like the bad guy! " and stormed off, heading for the bushes Scourge was hiding behind as Scourge thought, " _Okay, she'll need more time. Poor girl's more insecure than I thought,_ " in response to the last sentence.

All Locke could manage to tell her was, " I'm SORRY, but I'm just trying to be CAREFUL! I don't want another Dimitri incident to happen because you wouldn't know when to stop! " before she went into the Warp Ring with Scourge. The most frustrating thing to her as she sat down back at home with Scourge was that she completely understood Locke's reasoning. She'd be scared to risk that herself. She'd never want to go mad with power. She'd consider that a humiliation and indignity, that she would never live down, or worse, would never let herself live down, and she had enough to be ashamed of.

She knew how it felt to want to be careful, and to be so afraid of something terrible happening that she'd take paranoid measures against it. She was careful and paranoid every time she kept herself quiet instead of revealing her true self to the Freedom Fighters; a girl who's less of the pure good hero they want, and more of a neutral, pragmatic normal person, the kind that she often worried just didn't truly belong with a group of heroes. The kind who might be kicked out if she said a single sentence that went against their morality too much. Sometimes it felt like a cult, because she so badly wanted to be honest about herself and was afraid to because she'd be too different from the group.

She wanted to be a hero, she loved fighting Robotnik for all the time she lost in those cells, and she had lots of fun with every mission where she got to do something. But she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb every second of the day and felt self-conscious every time she saw someone use special powers she couldn't have, well almost every time; when it came to Sonic, she was just impressed and amazed with how fast he could go, and enjoyed seeing him fight robots too much to be distracted by jealousy. She could put up with seeing at least one special ability every day as long as it was that of Sonic, or Scourge, because that one was cool enough to make her admire it more than she envied it. After all, she couldn't imagine herself reacting fast enough to properly deal with that dizzying speed and just liked watching it herself.

So it wasn't like with Tails' flight or Bunnie's lasers, where she always found herself thinking, " _Why can't I do that?_ " And she kept it to herself because if she complained every time she wanted to, she knew that it would only annoy them. That and she didn't think calling attention to how incompetent she thought she was would be a smart idea when she was scared of them letting her go.

The person whose power she was most jealous of was Espio, because she would've had a much easier time as a thief if she could go invisible at will, though that only made her frustrated that Locke would only be proven right to not trust her if she ever gave herself that power, just to use it for evil. But she couldn't help but think about how the special power that would've most benefited her when she was younger would've been that.

She remembered that one time, when she went to bed, she got so tired of lying awake reflecting on her envy of Espio that she actually tried to see if she could go invisible. She imagined her body disappearing, and moved her hands around in a desperate attempt to make it happen, hoping she had some chameleon or ermine DNA she never knew about. Of course, she couldn't. She supposed it made sense because if she could do that just because she was desperate, she would've discovered it a long time ago.

She couldn't fly either, no matter how many times she jumped wishing she could stay in the air, spinning her one tail in a pathetic attempt to fly, and the only reason she didn't feel entirely silly about it was that she justified it as exercise, all while thinking, " _I'm a fox TOO! Why him and not me?!_ " She felt pathetic for being jealous of Tails, and angry at herself because he was just a kid, a sweet little kid who wanted nothing but to make her happy, and date her when he was too young for it. Tails was like her own Amy Rose, without being pushy or violent about it, and she knew that she was luckier than Sonic.

So she was trying to make things up to Tails for not only dating Sonic but being jealous of him too. She had ruffled his hair just that day, and she had even made a habit out of hugging him, but only if nobody was there to witness it. After all she didn't want to look like she was just a softie. She wondered if she had that in common with Scourge, and realized that she had been paying no attention to the movie. With that, she forced herself to pay attention, and justified in her head, " _I've already seen this movie anyways. And at least I TRIED. Stupid Locke. I oughta go there at midnight when he's not guarding it and do it anyways, but then I'd just look different afterwards, and EVERYONE would know what I did. _"


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Scourge went to Fiona's house to watch a movie as usual, this time entering it through a Warp Ring that Finitevus had given him. He sat down on her couch relaxed and asked, " How's it going, Fi? " with his arms behind his head briefly before stretching, and she started microwaving some popcorn saying, " Lousy, " too distracted by the day she had to remember to not sit right beside Sonic's evil twin.

She complained, " We started out trying to keep this jerk called Mammoth Mogul from escaping the Chaos Emerald he was sealed into, and out of nowhere, he just burst out anyways before we could do anything about it! These evil wizards called Ixis and Mogul got free of the places they were sealed in, SOMEHOW, I really don't know HOW, and they had this big fight with flashes of light and in the end, all that got accomplished was the magical Sword and Crown of Acorns were turned evil and destroyed with a perfectly nice knight sacrificing his LIFE, and EGGMAN stole our victories over them. He just beamed them away with beams from his airships, and teleported them straight to his life-draining Egg Grapes. Not only did he do that to those wizards, but he did that to the Destructix, too. The only thing I accomplished was fighting this total jerk in the Destructix called Drago, and of course, I wasn't alone, so they would've won over him anyways. I felt like this really small player in this big crowd of people and we weren't getting anything done that mattered. "

" Wow… that's a lot to take in. Y'know, you say you love being a Freedom Fighter, but all I seem to hear from you are complaints. Sure you say it's thrilling and exciting, but how long's it been since you had a mission you liked? " Scourge commented honestly.

Fiona sighed and said, " Yeah I know, it doesn't look GOOD, DOES it? Doesn't reflect well on me that I'm complaining all the time. And again, it'd be fine if I had some unique special power or talent to stand out, something to make me important and needed, but I just don't. Everyone's got SOMETHING to really offer over there, except me. But at least this time, everyone failed equally because NOBODY accomplished anything. We had a big fight with a bunch of jerks, and all we really accomplished was stalling for time to keep ourselves from getting hurt. Sure, I enjoyed that fight, but it didn't last that long and I could've just stayed home. Whatever happened to me blowing up Swatbot factories, why couldn't they just send me to do that again? "

Scourge said, " Well if I had any bombs I'd help ya there. But you already said the locations of the factories were top secret, so. " Fiona said unhappily, " Sorry I'm complaining too much. You didn't come here for THAT. I'll just start the movie, " and got the movie on while the popcorn was still microwaving.

Scourge, wanting to get what he really came for out of her instead of just watching a movie, asked, " Want a hug? I mean, since you're so stressed and all… " feeling self-conscious of how surprisingly considerate he was being by the end. Fiona was surprised, but since she felt like she should encourage this, she decided to humor him and take the risk, reasoning to herself that it wasn't asking for much and he should be rewarded for being considerate, so she put her arms around him saying, " Thanks, " and he returned the hug with a smile of contentment, before reluctantly letting go.

Not satisfied with simply watching another movie with Fiona since he was getting bored of that repetition, Scourge asked, " Isn't Sonic your boyfriend? So how come he's never spending the evening with you? I'm glad you're free for my sake, but what does he do for dates anyways? " Fiona looked annoyed, thinking that it was none of his business, and he snarked, " I'm taking that silence as a bad sign. I'm just interested in what kinda restaurants you like to go to, like fast food places and stuff. "

Fiona admitted, " We've never gone to any places like that. All he did was walk around and hold my hand and watch a movie with me when he had some free time in the day. He never goes on dates at night 'cause he's too tired from running around fighting Eggman all day and I guess by that point he's forgotten all about me. Again. Besides, A LOT happened today. "

Scourge said, " So no wonder he hasn't caught you with me on movie nights. Hey, I've got a better idea! Why don't we go to an amusement park back on MY planet? No one would recognize you, so you won't get in trouble, and it's better than being stuck inside again for yet another movie. OK, it's probably too late to go right now, it's like 6:00, but what about tomorrow when you're free? You said so yourself, the Freedom Fighters wouldn't exactly die without you on their missions, you can afford to take a day off or two. And if your friends get all mad at you and interrogate you for THAT, they'll fail their test of loyalty, 'cause all they should think is that you just wanted a vacation. "

Fiona was stunned, and at the same time, she couldn't think of much reason to object; she knew she'd get away with it, and he was being nothing but friendly with her. And what harm could going to an amusement park cause? She asked, " But, how would you get back home? Oh, right. You warped to Mobius somehow so you're probably able to get home the same way. "

Scourge admitted, " Nah, I smashed my zone-link generator the minute I used it to get here. I never thought I'd wanna go back home. But what I can do is charge my Warp Ring with the Master Emerald! Somehow Dr. F talked Knuckles' dad into letting him guard the Emerald for him. Something about Locke wanting to look for his family made him easy to convince. So now we've got it all to ourselves! Come on, what'dya say? Ever went on a rollercoaster, or a Ferris wheel? "

Fiona was nervous at what he was telling her, before admitting reluctantly, " No. I've never been to an amusement park before. " Scourge felt a little sorry for her and said with a smile, " Then you haven't lived! Come on, what's wrong with trying something new? You need to live a little! And you know you can trust me. I've been almost nothing but nice to you! Even when I was impersonating Sonic, I never hurt you! "

Fiona found herself smiling, commented, " You could've hurt _Knothole,_ and you never did, " with Scourge being self-conscious about it, and she stood up from the couch and said, " Sure, why not? There's a lot of fun stuff I never got to do that tons of other people have! How's that fair? I've been deprived for way too long! You know I've never even been to a bar before? Not to mention a restaurant. "

Scourge reassured her, " Well, ANY of those fun things you never got to experience before, you can always do with ME. You should get to enjoy them too. It shouldn't be restricted to just normal folk who got to grow up with a normal life. And don't worry, I won't have any problem getting the money for it. "

Fiona looked reluctant at the end and said unhappily, " You mean you'll steal from people? " Scourge, recognizing that from Miles, reassured her, " Don't worry, I only steal from people I KNOW are total jerks, like criminals in the alley, or my father for example. I can just use my Warp Ring to get home and borrow his credit card! No one will know it's you and make a big deal out of it, hell if anything the focus would be all on ME. And no one's gonna be brave enough to cross me instead of giving me what I want. If there's anything you want, I can give it to you no problem! Think of me as a genie, but more realistic. " Fiona couldn't help but giggle at his final sentence, and he continued, " You don't have to let your childhood as a homeless thief and life in Knothole keep stuff from you, " as he thought about how much he loved the sound of her laugh.

Fiona, trying to put up token resistance with her arms crossed to feel better, said, " Sonic wouldn't be happy if he knew I was going to do this. " " Then he doesn't want what's best for you, then. A good boyfriend would just want you to be happy and enjoy yourself as much as you possibly could, no matter who it's with! And you're not getting that so far. I'm not saying it HAS to be a DATE. Whether you kiss me or not is entirely up to YOU. I wouldn't feel satisfied with it otherwise. The whole point is to enjoy myself with someone who appreciates being around me for a change. If he was such an accepting guy, you'd think he'd be fine with you getting to have a fun day out or two, whether it was with HIM or NOT, and besides, he's always so busy fighting Eggman and not taking him down, do you really think he'd take you to an amusement park? Even if I let you borrow my Warp Ring so you and Sonic could go there instead, he'd just say no 'cause he's too busy. " Scourge explained reasonably.

The explanation was very convincing, and Fiona found the offer too tempting to resist. She had never experienced the kinds of dates that normal girls got to have or gone to the places of recreation that most normal people got to enjoy, like a skating rink. She did have memories of playing on the baseball team when she was a kid in school, but that was before Robotnik kidnapped her, and her parents moved without her, and there was no trace of a baseball park in Knothole. And she was being given no other choice, she could either go with Scourge to go have fun or not go at all. " Alright, I'll do it! But first, I wanna go to a sushi bar! I always heard of those places and never got to actually experience them, " Fiona said excitedly.

" Do you mean, right now? " Scourge said. " W-Well, I JUST made popcorn, so there's no sense putting it to waste. We'll sit down and watch some of the movie until we're done the popcorn and then we'll go. Come here tomorrow for lunch, and I'll go with you if there's no hint of a mission for me, " Fiona responded quickly with a smile. Scourge had never seen her so excited. Naturally, Scourge and Fiona found themselves eating faster than normal so they could finish the popcorn faster.

When they went to the sushi bar on Anti-Mobius, after placing their order for the things on the menu that a newbie would find the most appealing-looking, Scourge pointed out after a brief silence, " I've never seen you so happy! You're, carefree even! You got a great big smile and everything! It's nice to see you not complaining about your life. You should be like this all the time! " Fiona replied, " Thanks, " with her smile faltering, as she wished that she wasn't so unhappy with her life that he had noticed it.

Scourge, just wanting to make some conversation instead of sitting there, asked, " So just out of curiosity, how much did Sonic tell you about me? " Fiona answered, " Well, after he explained everything to the girls, I was the most confused one, 'cause that was the first I'd ever heard of you. So he told me everything he knew about you; the time you tripped and raced him, the time you tried to steal the Master Emerald from Knuckles with his twin, the time you got the Giant Borg for Eggman back when he was a robot, when you thought he'd make you the only Sonic if you did. "

As they got what they ordered to eat, he could tell how resentful she was just talking about his past evil deeds. Hoping he didn't kill the mood, he said reluctantly, " Yeah, well… " " Well, WHAT? ' We all make mistakes? ' " Fiona asked suspiciously. Scourge knew it wouldn't be expected of him with his reputation to admit that, and was torn between being completely honest with her and lying, but lying would just make things feel fake, when she was his only real friend in existence. " Well, y-yeah, uh, I guess. I mean, technically none of that ever worked out well for me anyways, and now all it's doing is making you mad at me for it. So they all backfired on me big-time, " Scourge awkwardly admitted.

Fiona smiled a little finding it sweet as she thought, " _Is that an apology?_ " and since she didn't want to keep pushing her luck, she simply said, " Well I'm glad you said that. I know it wasn't easy for you, and don't worry, if I was in the business of holding a grudge, I wouldn't have ever given you a chance. It's not like you ever killed anyone when bothering Sonic, even if you WERE working for Robotniks, when you easily could've. You didn't do anything unforgivable. "

Scourge replied, " Good thing, too. Uh, 'cause then I wouldn't have you. And look, I'm not proud of working for those Robotniks. I never even LIKED any of them! I was just trying to use them, take advantage of them, and that's probably all they deserve, and again, it didn't work out well for me, so I have no reason to be proud of it. In fact, the last time I got convinced to work for a Robotnik, he tried to roboticize me! Obviously I learned my lesson after that. Especially since I needed Sonic, some other hedgehogs and a ZONE COP to get me out of that cell! So yeah, not doing that again. And I don't like Finitevus either, at all, but at least he can be trusted not to back-stab me. Otherwise he would've done it by now! "

" Why'd you do that anyways? Why'd you give a Robotnik the Giant Borg pieces? " Fiona asked him. " Well, I'll admit I wasn't thinking very far ahead. I was all caught up on the idea of getting back at my gang when they walked out on me for the LAMEST reason ever! Just because I couldn't get past a force field of the good Robotnik! It's not like I was constantly being mean to 'em. Even with Patch, he always started it! I was all stressed out from THAT and then this Robotnik guy showed up in a flash of light and told him that I was thinking small and he could offer me something better, " Scourge explained.

" That's all he said? That's it? " Fiona asked. Scourge admitted with what she could've sworn was an ashamed and embarrassed expression, " Yeah, that's all. I never said I wasn't impulsive. I do stuff that seems like a good idea at the time. I don't wanna sit still and take a million years thinking ahead to every potential consequence. He said he was offering me something better than my gang, of course I agreed to it, but I shouldn't have trusted him to keep his word. I figured he'd reward me and I'd have a lot of fun, and when he back-stabbed me like that, I realized that the only thing any Robotniks were interested in was turning people into robots. I bet my father would've loved the idea of getting everyone to be his mindless slaves and doing whatever he wanted. He definitely treated ME like one. The Robotnik of YOUR zone didn't reward me well either 'cause all HE did was try to get some robots to drown me! Screw that, those guys suck. "

Fiona complained resentfully, " So them roboticizing people in general wasn't a turn-off? " Scourge reluctantly admitted, " I can't imagine I would've LIKED the idea of them turning everyone into a creepy-looking robot. You know, the kind that wouldn't have any money for me to steal, wouldn't be running any businesses or restaurants and wouldn't even REACT to me at all! My life would be totally different in a world like that! The way I used to live, I wouldn't get to have any fun! I know that they were doing that for themselves, to benefit THEM, but that's not what I'm interested in. And I sure as hell wouldn't wanna live in a world where everyone was that BORING! Or creepy-looking, like Sonic's dad. I think I would rather beat the crap out of a Robotnik and blow up his buildings than make more of those robots. In fact, I'd definitely prefer that! Nothing's more fun than beating up a jerk who has it coming to him, and I doubt I'd be able to resist that urge for long. Robotniks seem like the kind of guy who want everyone to just do what they want, with no independent thought and no respect for them and who they are, and that's my parents right there. I bet my dad would've loved if I was just a mindless robot slave, 'cause a robot wouldn't complain about holding his cape up! And a robot wouldn't get in trouble at school or drop out. "

Fiona was definitely reassured by what he was saying, and wondered if that meant that any partnership he'd have with a Robotnik would inevitably be temporary. She asked, " Well I'm glad to hear that! You met Sonic's dad? What happened? " Scourge looked reluctant, and she told him, " If we're gonna be friends, I have to know you'll be honest with me! It's a miracle I trust you as it is after you worked for my sworn enemy. There's no secrets between us! "

Scourge explained, " Alright, alright! I met him, right before I met Rouge. It was pretty awkward, though. They thought I was Sonic at the time, and Sonic's mom was being, NICE to me. She even insisted on hugging me before I left, and seeing my mom acting that nice was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. I'm not complaining about THAT but I couldn't stand how they were so full of questions. They wanted to know why ' I ' took so long getting back home. They wanted to know why I was worried and uncomfortable around them. They wanted to know why I was so surprised that her pancakes tasted GOOD. Sonic's dad wanted to know why Tails was mad at me. Sonic's mom told me not to break Bunnie's heart. They don't mind their own business! My _own_ parents never asked so many questions about me! They couldn't care less what I did! She said she has a right to know what's going on in her kid's life. Are MOST parents like that? 'Cause that was confusing as hell! I had to get out of there before they figured out who I really was! "

Fiona reminded him, " My parents certainly weren't like that, " interested in what he was saying, and he continued, " Every time I was stressed out and had the urge to be snarky or rude, I had to repress it around them so I wouldn't get in trouble! I was NOT gonna start going through THAT again. Sure I knew how to outrun them at my age, but still, they would've figured out I was being more sarcastic and cynical than Sonic and they'd INSIST on learning why, and I could either lie to them and who knows if it'd be good enough, or have to deal with that every day. So eventually I just took off, and that's when I met Rouge. And I thought she'd be the exact opposite of them and like me for _NOT_ being pure good, while with Tails and Sonic's parents, I had to hide what made me different from HIM just in case. But every time I try to tell her about myself and, well, open up to her, she just tells me to stop complaining and feeling sorry for myself! I told her about my past history with Sonic and all she did was tell me off, when she's a jewel thief! She's hardly innocent! "

Fiona looked at him sympathetically as he ranted, " Like, I get it, okay? Everyone's made mistakes, it's nothing new! It's not my fault I couldn't see the future! I don't like Robotnik EITHER! Like, you expect someone impulsive who lives in the moment to think really far ahead? I'm not the trusting type, not by any means! I trusted those Robotniks on their word 'cause I assumed they wouldn't be stupid enough to waste my skills by betraying me. But it was also because I was desperate for a better life. I wasn't happy with my gang, it was depressing and boring. Apparently I used to be a real ' go-getter, ' but once I sent that tyrant king into the Zone of Silence, there was nothing left for me to really accomplish. "

" Really? " Fiona commented skeptically. " Well sure I beat up criminals everyday. So it's not like I was never productive. I was stuck with people who were jealous of me and decided they hated me no matter what, and they even managed to turn Miles against me. 'Cause god forbid I wasn't spending every hour of the day with him. And even if I did topple Kintobor's tower, then what? I didn't really care about that. That wouldn't have made them respect me, they'd still hate me when I was doing nothing to them. So every time someone offered me an out, I took it just in case. I wanted something better than I had. When I realized I could give MYSELF that instead of relying on some shady individual, well, that's why I tried to replace Sonic. I'll admit it, I had the time of my LIFE doing that! So obviously I wasn't happy with how things were before. "

He continued, " You know what I just realized? We're not that different in our situations! We used to be in the same boat! MY ' Freedom Fighters ' don't accept me for who I am either! Patch has no problem killing people when Miles isn't there to see it, but if you haven't noticed by now, I've never done that to my worst enemies! Not to Kintobor or ANY of the Freedom Fighters, no matter how many chances I got. You think I didn't notice that? Every time I didn't kill Kintobor or injure him, I got insulted for it! I-I mean, so what if I want an actual challenge? I-I mean the closest my gang had to an ultimate goal was getting that meddling scientist out of the way and if I did that, what else would be left? What if they thought they didn't need me anymore 'cause I accomplished every major goal they had? "

" Didn't you just say you never think ahead? " Fiona asked him with a cocked eyebrow and a smile, knowing that he was just making excuses after the fact for taking it easy on Kintobor. Scourge admitted, " Well, yeah, but, what I mean is that he's a wimp and I knew he wouldn't be satisfying to fight at all, not like the bullies back at school or the drug sellers in the alleys. The only member of my gang who ever understood me on this was Miles. The rest of them just thought I wasn't being as useful as I could and ditched me for it one time. If I hadn't been there to save Miles from drowning in a lake, they never would've taken me back. Almost none of them like me for who I am, they're always questioning me. None of them wanna hear about my past 'cause it just makes everyone awkward and uncomfortable, and other than Miles, they won't even admit they feel sorry for me so I don't know if that's it. They just change the subject and don't wanna hear me complain. You can't tell me you can't relate to that! I came to Mobius wanting an escape from all that. I spent most of my time with them looking for a solution to my problems. Don't you want that, too? "

Fiona, who was enjoying the fish she was eating and appreciated that Scourge had ended up opening up to her before he knew it, admitted unhappily, " Yeah, I do. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want things to change for the better. If the Freedom Fighters were accepting me for who I was, I would've told them all about my time as a thief instead of just keeping it all to myself. They wouldn't have restrained me by telling me, ' no, you can't use that rifle, not even against evil robots! ' And out of all them I'm definitely the most bitter and sarcastic, and I have to watch myself around them so they won't overreact and glare at me for it. "

As Scourge was enjoying his meal, Fiona ranted, " I don't tell them about my past, and I doubt they'd feel sorry for me if I did. I can only imagine them being annoyed with me for taking stuff from other people! Like god forbid I take a jewel from a museum that was doing nothing with it but putting it on display, when I needed it to buy food and water. Gee, I wonder who needed it more? But they would never understand that. It's like they think in black and white morality and they disapprove of anything in between. They'd never understand. But the point is, well, I didn't mean to talk this MUCH about this, but my point is, we don't really have the same solutions to our problems. Are we really seeking the same things? "

Scourge said, " You tell me, " and Fiona explained, " You're happier not being constantly judged and questioned and lectured by them. You can't expect me to never question you though, in fact I do it all the time. But really I just want what's BEST for you. And what's best for you sure as hell isn't being all alone with no real friends, 'cause if you were happy with that, you wouldn't be with me right now, even though I'm working with the Freedom Fighters, and you wouldn't have tried to date every girl you could, on Mobius AND back home. Your problem is already solved. You've separated yourself from a group that doesn't appreciate you, and you're not all alone for it 'cause you've got me. Me, my problem isn't just that I'm in a group of people who are nothing like me. "

" It isn't? " Scourge said skeptically. Fiona explained calmly, " Not really, no. I've been putting up with that for months. My problem is that I'm surrounded by experienced Freedom Fighters, most of which have special powers and talents that I could never dream of, and there's so much variety in what they're capable of that I'm at a loss for how I could stand out as unique! If I could think of an ability or power that they'd really appreciate from me, then believe me, I'd be telling you to warp me to the Master Emerald right NOW. Locke was just being paranoid earlier about the whole Enerjak worry. But any power I could think of is already taken. "

Scourge thought with his hand on his face and chin, " _Yeah, we've already been through this song and dance before. She really needs a confidence booster. But what am I supposed to do? I couldn't help Miles' confidence no matter how many criminals he beat up,_ " and she said, " Even ' long-range combatant ' is a job that's already filled 'cause they could just call up Julie-Su with her ray gun, so even if I got a crossbow like Geoffrey, and he's always busy with GUN, well who cares, Julie exists. And that would just be used for fighting robots which everyone else can already do. But if I did stand out and I WAS seen as necessary and useful, I'd be a lot happier with my situation. Me being happy and being a Freedom Fighter aren't mutually exclusive. I love getting into fights like that and doing everything I can to spite Robotnik! He really deserves it. "

Scourge nodded and said, " Yeah he does. I'd sure like to spite those guys after they double-crossed me like that. " Fiona explained, " Sure, I hate not being able to talk about my past and admit that I'm not a pure good idealist around them. I bet even Tails would just look at me all upset and confused if I told him about my earlier thefts. He THINKS he's in love with me, but he probably thinks of me in a really idealized way, in fact he probably only likes me for my looks. There's no way he'd be happy if he knew the real me! He's probably never done anything morally gray in his life! How could he ever relate to that? I don't have anyone there to fully relate to. But that's what I've got YOU for! I can just go talk to you whenever I want. I could still be happy with the Freedom Fighters! For the most part, I am. I just hate feeling like they don't need me around at all. I mean they did survive just fine up to now without me. I doubt the team's ever gonna fall apart without me. And even if it did later, it wouldn't be my fault. And it's been forever since I got to do something really useful and meaningful. "

Scourge snarked, " It's almost like they've been on a wild goose chase the last few years. If they just stopped holding back and got rid of their enemies, their problems would be solved by now. But then they'd still be complaining 'cause they wouldn't get to have exciting missions anymore, and _then_ whose factories would they destroy? No one's ever satisfied. " Fiona, who agreed with what he was saying, simply reassured him, " I am, " and put her hands on top of his hands with a sweet smile on impulse because he was unhappy and she knew he'd appreciate it.

As expected, he looked stunned at her warm hands on top of his gloves and looked into her eyes, and before he knew it she had taken them away to continue eating, and he wished that he wasn't wearing those gloves so he could see if her hands were soft. He was so appreciative of how she was treating him with compassion and kindness that he was more confused and stunned that he was getting that than outright happy, and the last thing he wanted was to lose what he managed to earn. Finally he smiled, a sweet content smile where he looked a bit nervous and bashful and could only manage to say, " Thanks, Fi, " to try to act natural.

Fiona admitted with a smile, " Well I meant it, Scourge, I'm having a great time! The food tastes great, and it's nice to hear you open up to me for once. Usually it's been the other way around. We can talk about basically anything together. There's nothing to be afraid of. Can you think of anything better than what we have right now? It's like… you're my best friend. And it's weird, I never thought I'd say that to you. None of my friends would understand, and that's 'cause they don't know you like I do. "

Scourge really appreciated hearing that from her, and couldn't help but smile at the surprisingly heartwarming moment, even if he barely ever got to have moments like that and wasn't used to them yet. All he could manage to say was, " Yeah, ditto. Same here, actually. I mean, you're one of the Freedom Fighters, but I don't care. You're the most open-minded person I've ever met! Anyone else in the group would just be judgemental of me and accuse me of lying every time I said something that surprised them. "

Fiona found it amusing how un-romantic the word ditto was in that heartwarming situation and simply admitted, " That's just what I wanna say to you, aside from the lying part. I've never met anyone so, open-minded and carefree when it comes to me. And I wouldn't give it up for the world! You're the best friend I ever had! "

Scourge was happy to hear that, of course, and was even happier that Fiona emphasized it by giving him a hug, with the two of them finally finished eating. Scourge asked, " So are you full? " and Fiona admitted reluctantly, " Yeah, unfortunately. I couldn't eat another bite! "

Scourge used his Warp Ring to get them straight to the Chaos Chamber. Fiona looked confused and he quickly explained holding the Warp Ring against the Master Emerald, " I've gotta super-charge it if I wanna use it again, so I hope you don't mind me making a quick detour. I'll send you home in a few seconds. And don't worry, Rouge is in bed. "

Fiona nodded in understanding, relieved that neither her or Finitevus were in the room to catch her with Scourge, and asked, " So what did you do today? " wanting to see if she could get him to tell her. " Well, Dr. F told me and Rouge to get those Destructix guys out of some ' Egg Grapes ' for him so he can have them on his side. That's really all that happened. Those Egg Grapes are pretty easy to break, too. I dunno what he wants to do next. "

There was a silence as Fiona continued staring at the Emerald, seeing her reflection in it, and she said, " Huh. It does make sense he'd go from rescuing echidnas from prison camps to rescuing some other people. Both times, he rescued people from Robotnik's clutches. I guess if I was one of the pure good Freedom Fighters like the self-righteous Sally, I'd be a lot happier about him saving the Destructix's lives. And I kind of am, I mean, no sense putting them to waste if they can do good, but I always hated those guys! Sleuth betrayed the Freedom Fighters by making a deal with Robotnik for power and sending some robots to the Lake of Rings for him. He also kicked Sally the minute he turned on her. "

" I'd like to see that! I-I mean, not the first part, 'cause he was-… " Scourge said with a smile and then realized he might have gotten in trouble. Fiona said, " No, don't worry, you just said what I was thinking. It's not like she's a terrible person of course, but after she glared at me and treated me like a troublemaker for SAVING SONIC from BEAN, yeah, why wouldn't I wanna see her get taken down a peg? None of her friends even stood up to her! "

Scourge said with both relief and anxiety, " Glad we're on the same page here. I didn't mean to, I mean I thought Sleuth was being an idiot thinking Robotnik could be trusted to give him ANY kind of reward. That's the same guy who had his robots try to throw me into the sea! And before SONIC, too! That kind of idiot can't be trusted to do what you want. "

Fiona explained resentfully, " Drago tried to make a deal with Robotnik for power, TOO. You know what happened? Our original Robotnik Prime got erased by the Ultimate Annihilator 'cause Snively finally got tired of him and Drago got sent to prison, just like the rest of the Destructix, who thought that working for Mammoth Mogul was a good idea. And it wasn't, 'cause the minute he got all-powerful, he ignored them and wanted to use Sonic, Tails and Knuckles as his new lackeys instead. They're idiots, all of 'em. They could be spending their time fighting Robotnik instead, and I think they could do a good job, but they'd rather waste their talents instead. One of them can even FLY, you'd think he'd use that against him. "

" I get it, I get it, you're not very subtle with the hints. But I told you, I don't know where the Swatbot factories are, and it's not like my smashing robots accomplishes anything anyways. There's nothing I can do… " Fiona said, " Well, you could use my Warp Ring to get a bomb to his base and then warp away, " and Scourge said, " But I don't have any bombs. And who would trust me with them, anyways? Sally wouldn't want me to kill him, but I could still bomb some OTHER parts of his city where he's not there. " Scourge told her.

Fiona sighed in exasperation and ranted, " It's all their fault! If they were open-minded, I could just tell them to just do THAT and we'd win! Robotnik's city would be destroyed in minutes and all they'd need to do is be smart for once! But that's not gonna happen right now 'cause Rotor vowed to never make another weapon again, and even if I could convince Tails, Tommy and Uncle Chuck to help me make some bombs against Robotnik, which logically shouldn't be hard since Sonic's been given bombs for that before… I'd still have them get mad at me the minute I told them I was spending time with you! They wouldn't believe me if I told them that you have a soft side and aren't a complete psychopathic monster. They'd think you were lying about your parents being jerks and making you the way you are. They'd think you were just lying and manipulating me from the start, even though you could have ANY girl you wanted and don't need me with you all the time, not when you can just warp to me whenever you want. "

Scourge nodded along sympathizing with her ranting, and thought at the end that while he didn't want to admit he outright needed her, he'd much rather have her with him all the time. Just a few hours a day wasn't enough, he still had to wait until Fiona was done for the day so no one would notice she was gone, and wait until he and Rouge were done for the day so she wouldn't know HE was gone. Since he wanted to test her to see how loyal she really was to her, he admitted, " I don't need it, but I would like it. It'd be nice if I could hang out with you for more than a few hours a day, you know. "

Fiona said, " They'd never trust me and believe me about you. They'd think I was just making a big mistake by even hanging out with you at all. And combine that with them knowing I worked for Bean and Bark, and they'd just LABEL me as a traitor for fraternizing with the enemy! They're so single-minded and, obsessed. All I should have to do is tell them, ' if we use Scourge's Warp Ring to send some bombs to Robotnik's city, we could take him out in a day! " But all THEY'D do is ask me how I plan to GET the Warp Ring, and the minute I'd tell them how I plan to get it, or even showed them your Warp Ring without telling them how I got it, instead of thanking me they'd just get furious with me for giving you a chance and getting to KNOW you. 'Cause you know, giving people a chance and getting to know them is so EVIL and monstrous. Who cares that I was being considerate, right? "

Scourge agreed with her saying, " Yeah that is pretty stupid of them, " and Fiona found herself being brave enough to say to his face, " With your super speed and spindash, you could be REALLY helpful to their cause, but they'd never let you! " Scourge complained, " I remember when they tied me up instead of letting me get revenge on Robotnik for trying to kill me. Real smart. "

Fiona complained, " That's really stupid. You could've had a lot of fun and they didn't even let you try! You could really help in the fight against Robotnik, but they'd just think you couldn't be trusted not to betray them, even in doing really simple tasks. That's as much their fault as yours for not trying. You could do missions for them without having to be around them! And I'd love to go with you on every single one of them! But they're just not open-minded and trusting enough to do that. It doesn't help that Snively mysteriously disappeared, so gee, I wonder if he joined Robotnik again? It's just not fair! Things could be so much better, it'd turn out great for them, and for ALL of us, and the only thing holding them back is… well, themselves, 'cause THEY'RE holding back, and they're not willing to go take risks. They took risks when they took me and Snively into their group, but that's really it and with Rotor not making weapons anymore, it's just, ugh… Sorry I'm complaining so much. "

Scourge didn't want to admit it, but he would've been willing to go with Fiona's idea. He could easily imagine that he'd have fun destroying Swatbot factories and Robotnik's city. He'd like the idea of running around carrying Fiona while she'd throw bombs around, causing all sorts of explosions and destruction, and when he thought back to when he saved that chili dog salesman from a Swatbot, he loved the appreciation and praise he got and would love to get that on a regular basis. He wouldn't have tried to replace Sonic just to save someone from a Swatbot like he would, if he didn't realize how much better his life was.

So hearing Fiona tell him why he might never get to enjoy that kind of life, that he'd never even be allowed to date Fiona by them without her getting in trouble, made him resentful and bitter, clutching onto the Warp Ring more tightly than he had before. He had to restrain himself from ranting about the heroes right there. Fiona was doing all the ranting for him, and he was worried that she wouldn't want to hear him say the same things. So instead, he visualized Fiona's house to have the Warp Ring set to return Fiona home, and said resentfully,

" You're right, Fi, it's NOT fair. You had a BRILLIANT idea that would take down Robotnik and they'd be too judgemental and scared to let you do it. THAT'S why they haven't beaten Robotnik, and if they ever do, who knows how long that'll take? We could beat Robotnik, I could find some bombs for you someday, but even then, they wouldn't appreciate it if I helped. But that's what you've got ME for. You don't have to worry about that with me. I'll like you no matter what. Freedom Fighter or not. Now come on, we've got a movie to finish. "

Fiona said, " I wish Sonic said stuff like that. Then we could've found some middle ground! Instead he's stuck in his ways when those ways don't work. " She took one last look at the Master Emerald as Scourge waited with the Warp Ring, and sighed heavily, before going up to the Warp Ring with him saying, " There's just too MANY of them. I could be fast like you, but why would they care when they already have Sonic and Mina? Maybe I could have fire powers like Blaze, but that'd just be used for killing robots too, and that's nothing new either. "

" That WOULD go really well with your red hair, " Scourge complimented her, admiring her looks, and Fiona said, " Even then, they might just get scared of me and not trust me not to abuse the power. Sally would lecture me about being responsible with it, I might not even be GOOD at using it, and of course that's all without them being furious with me for getting to the Master Emerald and powering up with it. What's the point? Let's just go home. " Scourge snarked, " I bet even Sonic would be mad at you for powering yourself up. He'd just call you power hungry and go, ' What are you, crazy?! You can't go throwing fire everywhere! ' I'd think it was cool though. "

He froze when he heard a sniffle behind him, immediately regretted potentially being responsible for it, and hugged her before he could change his mind, which fortunately got her to return the hug as she wished she hadn't started crying in front of the evil Sonic. As Fiona continued to hug him and cry into his shoulder, Scourge reassured her right away despite his pity,

" See, that's what I love about you! Instead of pushing me away 'cause of who I am and what I did, you're GRATEFUL and like me for who I am. You're not like my first girlfriend where I had to talk myself up and exaggerate and complained any time I showed some decency. You're the exact opposite, and I've never felt more appreciated. You DO have someone who needs you. I-I mean I wouldn't LIKE to _live_ _without_ you. Okay? That wasn't easy to admit, but it's true, you've made life a lot more fun for me. At least you have one person who appreciates you that much. "

Finally, after all that time, Fiona said with a breaking voice, " Sonic doesn't. Or if he does, he's never told me! He never even hinted… " She remembered the sly looks Sonic gave her when he was giving her affection, like when he complimented her for the cavalry charge, and said, " He's just using me to get over Sally, isn't he? He's using me like everybody else. I have no proof of that, but I do know this. Before we started being friends, I asked Sonic about me and him and he said, ' we're young, and there's no rush! ' "

" So it's not like you and Sonic are seriously going out… Hell, even I'm more ' serious, ' about us, I'm closer to that than anyone, 'cause I actually hang out with you every evening when I don't even have to! Uh, I'm not trying to get in trouble with you by saying that. That's just what I think. Come on, you need a movie to distract you, and get your mind off things, " Scourge told her, and Fiona finally let go and nodded, drying her eyes as fast as she could afterwards out of embarrassment as they walked through the Warp Ring.

Scourge picked the Warp Ring back up from her house and sat on the couch, and reassured her after she sat beside him, " And don't worry, I won't tell anyone you, well, you know, got upset. You'd do the same for me, and I've already seen Miles like this more times than I could count. So I don't blame ya, and I know what to do at times like this. Want another hug? You can get away with as many as you want. " Fiona hesitated a little, turned on the movie again, and then hugged him again, and smiled appreciating that she could get away with it without consequences.

She found herself letting him sit with his arm around her back holding her gently to his side, relishing in the love and affection, and was so distracted by her train of thought that it never even occurred to her that she'd be seen as cheating on Sonic for this, especially since she still hadn't outright kissed him. She thought, " _If he was really such a monster that he wouldn't deserve this, he would've killed me by now. He could take advantage of me and hurt me and he never did. And that's not even mentioning how nice he's being to me, so it's not just a lack of abuse either. He doesn't have to be this nice to me. He could take off right now and go on a stealing spree or worse! But that's not what really matters to him… I do? Maybe that's where his priorities lie. I can live with that. "_

She thought, "_ It's not like he said he'd hate being a hero either, he clearly said he enjoyed it when he tried. So what's the problem? He just needs some direction. Maybe I could, well not change him, and I wouldn't want that anyways 'cause then he'd be judgemental like Sally. But maybe I could nudge him in the right direction. The next time I find out where a Swatbot factory is, I'll tell him where to find it! I just wish I could just ask them to let him join the Freedom Fighters already, and have them approve of and congratulate me instead of just thinking I was being an idiot. That'd be so much easier than hiding this from my friends! I'd need the Freedom Fighters to cooperate with me on that and take a chance with him, and they'd never forgive me for even being with him. " _

She thought in frustration, "_ It's not like I'm betraying them for Robotnik. What's wrong with what I'm doing? It's not hurting them or inconveniencing them at all! It's not like I'm kissing him. It wouldn't break Sonic's heart anyways. He never really wanted me in the first place! He just came up to me out of nowhere and said he wanted to date me. It wasn't exactly a romantic scene._ "

Finally, she thought,_ " If Sonic appreciated me so much more than him, then where is he NOW? Why doesn't he wanna spend every hour of the day with me? What's so wrong with me? What does Sally have that I don't? Aside from ' black and white morality ' holding her back and making her think she's so much better than me. At least I'm open-minded. Scourge has been through a lot, actually, and whether Sonic would want me to get rid of him or not, that's not gonna keep me from giving him a chance. Everyone needs a friend. _"


	4. Chapter 4

When Scourge was done for the day and thought about going to visit Fiona again, excited to have a day out with her on Anti-Mobius, he soon thought back to when he taunted Sonic about the fact that Fiona and Sonic weren't for real as a couple, and realized when he remembered Fiona's nervous expression the last time he saw her with him that she would be mad at him the next time she'd see him. There was a very real possibility that she would just throw him out the minute he'd try to go talk to her.

As a result, he hesitated at first about going to visit her, being nervous since he dreaded her angry reaction to seeing him. He knew she wasn't going to be in a good mood with him, so after some thought, he decided to go up to her house with a box of Pot of Gold chocolates, and tried to put on a confident smile while knocking on her door as if nothing was wrong. Scourge thought, " _Besides, if I don't visit her, she'll just think I abandoned her. I know what she and Miles are like, and I don't wanna make things worse. Better I fix things now 'cause putting it off will make it even worse._ "

When she opened the door, at first she looked annoyed and stressed out, only to be surprised at seeing what he was holding and say, " Hey, that's my favorite chocolates! You REMEMBERED! " She smiled taking the box from him and put it on a table, finding it sweet that he actually remembered something she had said in the passing in the hopes that he'd actually give it to her someday. Scourge said with a hopeful smile, " So do you forgive me? " being more nervous than he let on.

Fiona got annoyed again, and called him out, " You mean for almost getting Sonic to break up with me when you lied to him?! Well I haven't heard an apology, so what do you think? I know you wanna be the one dating me instead but I have feelings too! He glared at me with the most cold-hearted look I ever saw on him, and he still expected me to buy that he believed me! Do you have any idea how that felt?! He was the only one of the Freedom Fighters who stood up for me in front of Sally, and acted like he was cool with my past, and now I don't think he even trusts me anymore! If he wasn't just using me to have a girlfriend before, that's gotta be all he's doing now because why else didn't he break up with me after that?! Though I didn't help things by saying you lied to him when he didn't even tell me what you said to him. "

Scourge nervously backed away a little on instinct and told her, " A-All I said was that I loved how you played it like you two were for real. I never SAID ' Fiona's dating ME! ' I just taunted him like I usually do. I didn't even know how he'd react! If you two WERE for real, why aren't you spending every evening on a date with him? Why did he say he wasn't even serious about you and there's no rush? Why did he glare at you like that and hurt your feelings if he's such a great boyfriend? "

Fiona was offended at the end, but was even more frustrated that she could barely think of a way to defend Sonic after that day. Even the times he showed her affection were starting to feel tainted in her eyes because she was seeing his sly smirks at her from earlier as proof of his insincerity with her. Scourge admitted reluctantly, " Look, I'm SORRY he looked at you that way, alright? I've known Miles for years, and he taught me how hard it was on him when he thought he was in trouble with his friend, 'cause his friends are all he HAS and the last thing he wants is to be abandoned by them and be left all alone again. I'm sorry I ended up putting you through that… And don't tell anyone I said that. After all, I'm not known for apologizing to anybody. I could've put off coming here right away 'cause I knew you'd be mad at me, but I didn't wanna make you assume I abandoned you and was never gonna see ya again. " He was feeling really self-conscious and embarrassed at the end when he ended up apologizing to her for real.

Fiona ended up sympathizing with him looking sad as soon as she realized that his apology was sincere and he really did feel bad for her, and she appreciated that he was even capable of feeling bad for her and regretting his actions. After all, he was Evil Sonic, and with Sonic, she took it for granted that he had a heart. With Scourge, she was impressed and astonished every time he showed any decency at all.

She sighed sadly and said reluctantly, " It's okay, Scourge, you didn't do it to hurt my feelings. You were just taunting your rival as usual. You were just messing with his head. It's half MY fault for talking as if I already knew you were telling him that and blowing my cover for myself! That wasn't the smartest idea. Maybe I'm just not very good at deception. After all, I didn't even think of lying to Sally that I never worked with Bean until it was too late. In retrospect, maybe I wouldn't have gotten in trouble if I had just told him the truth, that you and I had become FRIENDS and you're the only one who really wants more. Sure, he'd think I was being a naïve idiot for befriending you at best, but that's better than him assuming I was cheating on him! "

Scourge replied, " Yeah, really I don't see how you put up with that. Did you? Did you even try to tell him off? " " I didn't wanna push my luck when he was already annoyed with me as it is. It might've felt satisfying and cathartic to tell him off for how he was making me feel, but I was already worried that he was gonna break up with me and I didn't wanna risk it by making him mad at me. Same goes for telling him the truth. I'd just get into a shouting match with him and what's the point of that? " Fiona said nervously.

Scourge told her seriously, " You don't NEED him. You could date someone else, and there's no reason someone looking like you would have a problem getting dates. And if there's seriously a risk of the Freedom Fighters kicking you out if Sonic breaks up with you, then that's a problem with them, not you. And that doesn't strike me as loyal! Even if he breaks up with you, if the Freedom Fighters are such a tightly-knit close group of friends, you should have nothing to fear! It's not like they'll chase you out with torches and pitchforks! They don't even have any PROOF. I'm not trying to get in trouble and get you mad at me, Fi. I'm just saying how I feel and should've been more careful, but it's too late now. "

Fiona, even more worried, admitted, " You're not in trouble. I almost told Sonic the truth earlier. As in, right before I came across Tails. It's just that I was feeling so, bad, after I told them everything I knew about Rouge from when I was a thief right in front of Sonic, and when he told me I did good, it didn't make me feel any better. So I wanted to feel better by not lying to him anymore. I wanted to get something off my chest and test him to see how accepting he really was. I asked him if he forgave all of the girls for mistaking you for him, just so I could start the conversation, but then we saw Tails and Sonic interrupted me. By the time it was all over I had lost the courage to tell him. "

Scourge told her, " You didn't really think he'd welcome the idea of us hanging out with open arms, did you? I mean there's always hope, you were probably desperate to have at least someone to tell about it, but let's face it, the minute he'd find out, he'd shut it all DOWN. There's no way he'd trust his evil twin to just have harmless movie nights with his girlfriend! He'd just tell you off and do anything he can to keep us from ever being alone together again. I don't want to ruin the mood here, but I'm just trying to be honest with ya, and there's really no nice way to break it to ya. Now I just wish there was a nice way to segue from this into you being in the mood to go have some fun with me, " and pulled some amusement park tickets out of his leather jacket. They immediately looked very tempting to Fiona. She had never even seen such things before.

She sat down on the couch, saying, " Let me think about it first, " still being mad at both Sonics and trying to figure out who she was mad at more. Fiona dwelled on the fact that Sonic would never be accepting and understanding enough of her to be cool with her being friends with Scourge, having the image of him coldly glaring at her very fresh in her mind, and she remembered that she had gone home and cried into her pillow the minute she had gotten away from him, all because of that.

She again wondered if things really would've been better for her if she had just told Sonic, " we're just friends! He was just messing with your head, " instead of saying Scourge was lying and leaving it at that. Sonic would've immediately been shocked and bewildered at her being friends with his evil twin and thought she was being impossibly naïve to trust him at best and at worst was going to turn to the evil side any minute just from being with him, and the thought that he didn't trust her anymore just made her angry clenching her fists in sheer frustration because he used to be the only person who stood up for her on the team. Now she thought that was going to change and it made her feel betrayed. She wondered what the point was of staying completely loyal to someone she didn't even trust not to betray HER.

Fortunately for Scourge who was incredibly nervous at the idea that she was angry with him instead, she said, " I'll go! " and stood up, saying in frustration, " That'll teach Sonic to turn on me! " A part of her felt childish for wanting petty revenge, going on a date with Scourge just to spite Sonic when she hadn't even had the courage to tell him her feelings were so hurt, so she tried to justify her action better self-consciously, explaining,

" But just to be clear, it's not because I'm in love with you, and you'll be lucky if I even kiss you at all. I'm only going because one, I'll never have another opportunity to go to an amusement park with Sonic when his only idea for dates is walking around holding hands, so clearly he's not nearly as dedicated to me! And TWO, I just wanna get back at him right now. How could he look at me like that?! How could he think I'd be okay with that? Did he really think I was that stupid, and gullible and oblivious, that I'd never think that he was suspicious of me? He's suspicious of me, after all the times he told me I was still welcome in the team! I told him to leave the room so he wouldn't hear about my past and he said it was fine, and that HE didn't have a stellar past himself! Yeah right! I thought I could rely on him to be on my side no matter what! But obviously I was wrong! Let's go, Scourge. I wanna see what a rollercoaster's like and Sonic's not taking me any time soon. "

She was still being irked with the constant nagging worry that she should at least try out asking him for that kind of day out, and should at least try telling him the truth and see how he'd react first. Instead the uncertainty about how accepting and trusting he really was made her worry that she was doing something rash, when normally she was the one telling SONIC to be careful. That only made her even more stressed out, as she thought that telling Sonic she was friends with Scourge would only make things worse for her and prove she was right about him, and she tried to convince herself that it was completely guaranteed that the outcome would be disastrous if she told him the truth and she didn't need to be self-destructive and tell him for real. She thought she'd be called a traitor for even considering spending time with him.

Wanting to test her and figuring it was at least worth a shot, Scourge put his hand out with a nervous smile with the Warp Ring in front of him, and since she was feeling lonely and craved affection at the moment, she found herself taking his hand just to see what it'd be like, and found it just as gentle and warm as Sonic's was, making her smile nervously and find him sweet. She looked into his eyes and saw his bashful but appreciative expression, which quickly gave way to a confident smile in a clumsy attempt to hide the old one that she found amusing.

She knew that going with Scourge through a Warp Ring to an amusement park was reckless and questionable of her, especially when she hadn't broken up with Sonic yet, but she thought, " _Sure, I'm being pretty rash. Sally would freak! But if I broke up with Sonic first, I'd be doing something even MORE rash! For all I know Scourge is only with me for a LITTLE while! He could be arrested by a zone cop tomorrow for all I know! If I ended things with Sonic too fast, I'd be cutting off a lifeline to a stable future with the only group of people letting me be with them, all for the sake of one guy with a bad reputation. I'm better off playing it safe, and seeing how things go. That'd be the smart thing to do. I mean, why break it off with Sonic before even checking to see if I'd LIKE a date with Scourge? That'd be really stupid of me! You never know until you try. _"

When they went to the amusement park, Fiona and Scourge had the time of their lives. For once they didn't spend their entire time together talking with Fiona complaining about her situation with the Freedom Fighters. Instead, they were too busy having fun on their dates to even think about having a long conversation.

The first thing they went to was the rollercoaster, and they found the rollercoaster ride thrilling and enjoyable, so much so that they went on it twice, after Scourge said, " Wanna go again? " and she exclaimed happily, " Sure! " being amazed that she was lucky enough for him to even suggest that at all. Scourge saw from her cheering and smiling the whole time that she was a thrill-seeker at heart, that despite her complaining and worrying on a regular basis, she was still someone who just wanted to have fun, so while he didn't find the ride as big a deal as her since he was used to going fast on his own, he enjoyed it just as much as she did, because she was having the time of her life. It was like her enjoying of the ride was contagious, as it made him have twice as much fun as he would've alone.

They went on a Ferris wheel and admired the view from so high up, impressing Scourge as she wasn't afraid of heights and just complimented the view of the forest. Fiona was in such a great mood that she was comfortable enough to let Scourge put his arm around her, with her focusing on how warm it was, and how gentle he was holding her to his side.

She threw a dart at a bull's eye and hit something with a hammer to ring a bell, which earned her some red balloons as a prize, and a teddy bear she turned down purely to impress Scourge, only for him to say, " You don't have to do that, you can have ANYTHING you want! And when you're tired of carrying it around, I can just warp it to your bedroom, " which made her smile in relief at him accepting her for who she was.

They went to a bar where she ended up doing great at throwing darts at a dartboard of the evil Freedom Fighters impressing all the men there. She always tried to aim for the picture of Alicia, and Scourge knew exactly why. When they sat at the bar stools and saw the alcoholic beverages on display, he asked, " Want something to drink? " She said nervously, " _I dunno_. I'm not even 18 yet! And I don't wanna damage my liver. " Sitting on the bar stool beside her, he briefly put his warm hand on her arm casually and encouraged her, " Come on, take a risk, live a little! At least try out the one with the least alcohol. It's not gonna kill ya, and if you don't like it, I don't care if you finish it. Money's no obstacle for me. "

Fiona smiled at the last sentence, being impressed as she was reminded that this was another thing Scourge had over Sonic as a boyfriend, as if being able to take her to a world full of recreational places with no tyranny at all for proper dates wasn't enough. Wanting to look brave, she nodded and said to the bartender, " I wanna order the safest alcoholic drink at the bar, the one with the LEAST alcohol in it. "

The drink was full of extra flavors to make it taste good in spite of the alcohol, being a type of strawberry milkshake with a cherry and little umbrella in it. She felt proud of herself afterwards for being brave enough to take a risk and try something new that she never thought she would, and immediately reminded herself that her even going to spend the day with Scourge qualified as that too, and thought, " _Well HE'S not scary, it's not like he's a monster. It's not like he's killed anybody. He's the second nicest guy I've ever met! Maybe even THE nicest, as of today._ "

She commented with a satisfied smile, " Sally would freak if she knew I was drinking this. And that's without knowing who I'm with! Serves her right! " and remembered Sally glaring at her, talking to her like a troublemaker for saving Sonic and getting Bark to surrender, and making her feel like an outcast who didn't belong. Every time that scene replayed in her head, every day that she couldn't help but remember it, she got increasingly more frustrated and upset with her for it. She hated dwelling on it and wanted desperately to forget it, but every day she was reminded of it, without even needing anything to provoke the memory. Sometimes it just came to her out of nowhere. And when she laid down for bed, it came back to her right away and filled her head when she was trying to clear it. And now Sonic had given her another bad memory for her to stress out over and get an angry rant in her head from that she was too scared to let out with him.

It had gotten worse and worse every day as she bottled up how she felt and never risked calling Sally and Sonic out on it, because if she did, she'd kick her out for all she knew, and she didn't want to get into a screaming match either. She was so annoyed and upset with the Freedom Fighters with even the idea of them planning to kick her out nagging her every day, that it never even occurred to her that Sally would just apologize to her for hurting her feelings and be ashamed of her behavior, or that Sonic would be the same way and try to humor her. Her tendency to worry too much like in an earlier mission with Sonic just made her assume the worst-case scenarios with them were the only ones that would ever happen.

Fiona couldn't just stop at spending one day on a day out with Scourge; the two of them were having so much fun that she disappeared for days, being completely unaware of the nanites situation and what went on with Tommy or Shadow later. He took her out to lunch and dinner at various restaurants getting her to experience the most well-known restaurant chains of the planet, which was their equivalents of McDonalds, Burger King and KFC. While that wasn't romantic, he knew he couldn't start out taking her to a fancy restaurant when she wasn't even sure about being more than friends yet, no matter how much he wanted to sweep her off her feet and wow her as a more capable and dedicated boyfriend than Sonic.

He wanted to take her out to every place he could think of that Sonic wouldn't, taking full advantage of the fact that Knothole didn't have tons of recreational places as luxuries for itself when it used to be a small hiding spot in a forest. But since he had to take it slow with her when he was still earning her trust, he started small and casual, taking her out to places that weren't guaranteed to be exclusive to couples. He did anything he could get away with labelling under the moniker of " just friends. "

They were on a bumper car team once and soundly won against their opponents. He got her some cotton candy, and they did some sight-seeing at a carnival, seeing a woman walk across a tightrope, and a monkey ride a unicycle and juggle torches in front of an audience, which was exciting for them just to watch. They had a brief tour of a zoo showing off rare unevolved animal species like elephants and normal tigers.

Scourge took her clothes shopping, using the excuse that, " Come on, you could buy some clothes in secret that Sally would never approve of and hide 'em in your closet so she'd never know, and wear 'em with me so you always remember that I like you for YOU! " Of course she shopped with the pressure to think and choose fast since she knew how impatient he was and boring him would only ruin the fun. That pressure combined with Fiona wanting to feel cool and smart by rebelling against Sally, even in private, led to her buying the black outfit she became known for wearing with Scourge, with the diagonal belts and all. She only planned on wearing it around Scourge, and she had gone through multiple potential outfit choices before deciding with an excited smile, " Oh, THIS is the one! Now this is badass! "

She even bought her new yellow bow there. Fiona pointed out to him when she saw it, " That's basically what I used to wear when I was living on the streets. I stopped wearing it to try to start a new life with the Freedom Fighters. I guess it was a symbolic thing but it feels pretty silly to me now. " Scourge commented, " Yeah, I think you'd look pretty good in a bow. Why don't ya try it on? "

After some hesitation, she did so, and he loved the look immediately, blurting out, " Wow, that's, beautiful! I mean, uh, I didn't think it would be that pretty on you, but, the way it contrasts the rest of your red fur and hair is great, it gives something to break up the red! And it matches your yellow muzzle and jumpsuit. Why'd you ever take it off? THIS is the real you! " Nothing proved to her that he liked her for her, more than that; looking directly at her wearing a bow and being impressed instead of uncomfortable.

Fiona smiled with sad-looking eyes, in that familiar expression Scourge recognized from Miles to mean that a person was stunned that things were working out so well for them. Being certain of the answer and just wanting confirmation from someone, she asked, " Do you think Sonic would be suspicious and mad at me if I started wearing this bow all the time? " " Nah! He'd just think you wisened up and went back to what worked, " Scourge said with a dismissive wave of his hand. " Alright, I'll wear it! " Fiona said excitedly, proud of herself for deciding to take the risk of wearing it all the time.

He took her to rock concerts of bands she had never heard of and found herself immediately wishing she had the albums for, as of course all of the songs were different on Anti-Mobius even if they had the exact same genres, and she was intrigued that, " There's a whole other world's worth of songs that I'd completely missed out on! " It came as no surprise to Scourge that she was a fan of harder rock than the rest of the Freedom Fighters, and her desire to rebel against Sally had only strengthened that as she ended up going to a computer and listening to music like metal and grunge.

She found herself going to the Anti-Mobius equivalent of Youtube and spending hours just listening to playlists of songs full of negative emotions she could relate to, like anger to vent out her frustration from recently, and despair and panic as she enjoyed the epic fast rhythms of an electric guitar and even instruments like the violin and piano accompanying it. Scourge didn't mind the silence from her. He just sat beside her with his arm around her enjoying the music, with them enjoying the warmth and love that they couldn't get from anyone else. She had no faith that she'd ever get that from Sonic again, and if she did, she wouldn't believe it was genuine. Sonic didn't need her. He could have any girl he wanted and she didn't think he'd be broken up over her if he lost her, no matter how he would.

While it was obvious to her that Scourge had a crush on her, Sonic was just using her to get over Sally and have a girlfriend, and whenever she remembered the sly smirks he would give her when he was with her, it proved it to her beyond a shadow of a doubt. Scourge always had a smile of contentment when he held her close to him and always relished in the affection, and she loved feeling so appreciated. Not even with the Freedom Fighters did she feel so loved.

So it only took a couple hours for her to relent and start humoring him by holding his hand a lot, which started as her just doing it out of pity for how lonely he was, and ended up being something she did because she was lonely herself. He was just as warm and gentle as Sonic was with her and that was vital for keeping her trust.

When she was walking in the park with him and admitted, " I miss playing baseball, I used to do that all the time as a kid. It's a shame we can't do THAT, " he went out of his way to make sure she'd be allowed to swing a baseball bat at a baseball field for some people casually playing the game. This was the first time he impressed her with him not being pure good, as him doing something that could be considered evil, was all for the sake of making her happy, and she knew immediately that this was something he had over Sonic because he would never break the rules just for her. Scourge intimidated the players into letting her play by walking right up to the batter and startling him by shouting, " Hey! My girlfriend here wants to play! You up for it or are we gonna have a problem? "

Before she knew it, she was batting for the team with an orange helmet, and she loved every second of it. She loved getting to make a lot of strikes and run all the way across the baseball field, and Scourge found it amusing to watch her like that. Even her tomboy side endeared itself to him, as he thought, " _She's pretty badass! With that confident smirk of hers. I never knew she could be so, well, cool! _"

As soon as the game was over, Fiona rushed over to Scourge and hugged him, saying, " Thank you so much! No one ever did anything like that for me! You've been so sweet! " and found herself kissing his cheek as a reward, being so comfortable with and fond of him that she forgot to think anything of it. It had only taken a few hours out with him for her to completely forget that she had a boyfriend at all, because she had experienced nothing like that with Sonic. Scourge was naturally smiling in contentment just at getting a kiss on the cheek, and she loved seeing how much he really appreciated her, as he said, " A-Any time, Fi! " clearly distracted by the kiss.

She usually just stuck to kisses on the forehead and cheek, trying to feel like she wasn't cheating on Sonic treating Scourge like just a really close friend. Scourge even offered when he brought her home, " So, uh, want a kiss goodnight? " pointing to his forehead, and what started as a question just to test her and see his boundaries worked out perfectly for him, as it caused her to actually agree to a goodnight kiss. It was only a matter of time before she would realize how much she loved him and ended up kissing him for real, right after he congratulated her for stealing some jewels, and by the time she had done that, it was just an hour before Sonic had decided to finally confront her.

All that time she had been looking for an excuse. She had been waiting for a sign that she was right about Sonic not trusting her, and that she had almost no one left in the group who did and that there was no sense in staying with people who didn't even like her. And when she finally got proven right, she felt like she had to make her decision, no matter what reservations she had to stress her out when Tails tempted her to stay.

She stuck with the one who liked and accepted her for who she was and encouraged her to be honest about herself, instead of trying to be someone she was not and spending every day worrying about when her friends were going to turn on her for good. She began to feel like she had to do it before they would, because with her abandonment issues, she didn't think she would be able to handle being abandoned herself without breaking down crying at worst, and she thought she had to make the first move before it'd be too late.

Scourge didn't convince her to stop trusting her friends, he was just in the right place at the right time and gave her someone to vent to about stuff she was already worried about, and she thought Sonic would never believe that if she told him. She could've explained everything to Tails, but it would've taken far too long and he would've been upset and confused anyways, and she didn't want to repay Scourge for being nice to him by embarrassing him by telling people how nice he was to her, and how much of a jerk his parents were to him.

So she decided it was none of their business what they talked about and what they did together, friends or not, though that was mainly just an excuse to not take forever telling them when she just wanted to leave as fast as possible before she could change her mind. Every second was stressful as she secretly agonized over whether it'd be the right idea, and it caused her to snap at someone she always saw as a sweet-natured kid because she wanted him to stop trying to talk her out of it and convince her to make an even bigger mistake.

The way she ended up treating Tails was something she'd live to regret for the rest of her life, but she didn't regret going with Scourge, because she knew she was loved and accepted with him, while in the Freedom Fighters, it had already gotten to a point where Sonic, Sally, and Amy hated her, and she couldn't even trust Tails to keep her secret for her because he turned Amy against her in the end. If she couldn't count on him, who could she count on? That combined with her awkwardness over the fact that a little kid had a crush on her just made her bottled-up frustrations with him from the beginning burst out of her.

She could've never gotten everything she wanted out of Sonic; someone who would break the rules just for her, take her to all sorts of fun and expensive places outside of Knothole, and congratulate her for her past, and make her feel good about herself whenever he could. Scourge was a kindred spirit who understood why she'd want to be rebellious, and had personal experience with someone with trust and abandonment issues already, while Sonic didn't have that in common with her. Sonic would've defended Sally to her, and she was certain that he'd rather tell her off for her past crimes than congratulate her, and while Scourge needed her to feel loved and appreciated, Sonic didn't need her at all, and she knew that the Freedom Fighters didn't, either.


End file.
